Oh, it is cold out there. Tuesday’s ride started with many layers (and my skirt in my bag–it’s pants weather right now) and the bright idea to remember both my hat and gloves, and then Brompty and I were off to the train station. The ride from Halethorpe is all uphill, so that sharp tingling sensation of cold wind on the face faded as I slowly made my way to campus, avoiding the spots of ice and mounds of salt. I stopped a block or so away from the big intersection at Sulpher Spring Road to snap a picture of the lovely decorations on this house–Christmas lights winding around one front column and a flag affixed to another, a garland of red plastic cups hanging between the two.

Oh, right–this is a college neighborhood. I forget that sometimes, because I’m not a student anymore, and to my eyes, it all looks like the suburbs, and that’s enough to make me suspicious. That garland was a good reminder, like the line out front of the movie theater for $5 Tuesdays, that this is a place where people live, just like the place where I live. Ok, maybe not “just like,” but certainly there is community and experience here beyond my easy assumptions after a few rides around. Thanks, bicycle, for the reminder. And kids, don’t believe the hype–all of it is better sober.