Friday’s ride was a quick one, just over and up the hill for a follow up visit with the doctor. She was happy to see the tonsils had gone down, but sad to hear the relentless fatigue was still making me feel like a two mile bike ride required close-to-heroic effort. We could do the test for mono, she said, but no matter what it says, all we can do is treat the symptoms. Not one for tests for testing’s sake, I declined and headed out with orders to keep taking it easy, to finish off that course of antibiotics, and to fill one more prescription. I celebrated the decidedly unhelpful results of that visit with lunch out and a walk down to the pharmacy inside the grocery store where I get the over-50 discount (don’t ask). It was more slow waddle than walk, but I made it, did my waiting, and then headed back. I used to make this walk regularly when I lived up the street from this grocery, but I’m hardly ever here anymore–no way am I riding the St. Paul bike lane that hugs parked cars like that. That means, though, that I haven’t gotten a good look at the rebuilding of the wall that collapsed last year–a landslide, not a sinkhole, just for the record. Folks were out of their homes on this street for weeks and weeks, and it was great when they could move back in, but they’ve been living with massive construction ever since. I snapped this picture on my walk back to my bike, impressed that yes, it’s actually almost done. Check out that smooth asphalt and clean curb! It’s gonna be like ice to bike on, until you have to turn right on Charles, of course. It seems like we fix our infrastructure at the last crumbling moment–or moments too late, in the case of this spot. We can find the money for so much stuff (52% of the federal budget is spent on “defense”–give us some of that money back!) but never for this, and this is the stuff that collectively we really need. But hey, at least this tiny block isn’t going to slide down into the CSX train tracks below again anytime soon. A few blocks later I was back on my bike and heading home to rest, doctor’s orders.