KarmaCycle: stress

Thursday, 25 February 2010

Never, ever take the tube ...

I made a vow to myself yesterday. "I'll never take the tube again." I needed to go by tube for complex reasons, and found myself trying to get on to the Central Line. I waited for train after train after train, all packed. I could feel the stress taking over my body. I found myself muttering out loud. I wanted to scream with frustration. Other people waiting by other doors seemed to be getting on far quicker than me. Mine was the worst place to wait on the whole platform. Is this just what everyone goes through every day? How could anyone not cyle???

Needless to say, because of odd timings and work committments, I had to take the tube again today, so I broke that vow (not good for Lent, I know).

But I'm longing to be back on the bike tomorrow.

The Cycle of Karma

When you're cycling around 100 miles a week through London, you develop some strange notions. The one I can't get out of my head is that you build up karma - good and bad - depending on how you cycle. So - if you stop at red lights, wait politely for pedestrians, smile at cars, you get rewarded - the next light turns green for you straight away, someone smiles back at you - you get the picture. Of course this doesn't always work, but it works often enough for me to try to cycle by those rules. Most of the time.