Tuesday, January 2, 2024

A Funny Thing Happened

On November 12, 2022, I wrote that my kids had been invited to a birthday party. They were watching cartoons when I got up and I had a coffee before I got our three bikes ready to ride by 10am. We went to 45th and Lincoln and from the boat playground went up Martin Luther King past the Polo Fields and onwards to the waterfall.

The boys did all right. They rode on the sidewalk at Rosegarden and we crossed Fulton OK. Then we took Balboa to Cinderella bakery. I got coffee, Macarons and a cream puff. Then we rode zigzag to Mountain Lake playground. A funny thing happened – a bus driver I know honked at us from his 44 bus. Later he tweeted at me to say that it was his first time honking at anyone.

When we got to the park my acquaintance texted to say that his son’s birthday party had been moved to Rossi Playground. We rode Lake Street. Some lady was rude but otherwise it was fine getting to the playground.

A bunch of kids from the birthday boy’s school were at the party and my own kids knew a few of them. I was at first bummed that I didn’t have the same rapport with the parents at my own kids’ school but quickly realized that I do – I just have to explore it. I helped with pizza and cake. I saw a couple with a newborn again. There was another parent I had met.

When things wound down Andrew and I took the kids to JFK to celebrate the passing of prop J. I saw all of the usual suspects along with a few public officials including the livable city Director. A guy I know bought me a beer. I spoke to so many people I had helped to organize the project. I also saw a bunch of car free people I had known over the years.

I wasn’t able to speak to everyone but people were showing off their new foldable e-bikes and there were quite a lot of people I knew from twitter.. When we left I tried to say goodbyes but the boys had run off to watch a person I know playing piano on Stow Lake Drive.

The ride to 41st was hard because I was tired. So, I took a nap and the boys watched TV.

This is an occasional series chronicling my life. This Notebook Analysis series is meant to be contemporaneous piece developed as an agglomeration of my notebook pages. In each of these posts I used my notes to develop my recent thoughts.

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