I am shocked to notice that each day I am forced to ride my bicycle through crazy traffic to get to work, I am finding that subconsciously (well, until yesterday when I realised) I have been playing games in the traffic. Which is quite interesting because technically these games could end up with me with a mangled body, or with my body as a nice covering for the front of a bus. But this is the situation. I ride a bicycle. Which puts me at the bottom of the Hanoi Traffic Food Chain (HTFC) which means I have to give way to EVERYTHING else and am a pleb of society. I am not even required to wear a helmet, but I do, so that makes me the nerd of the plebs of society, but a safe nerd. So back to the race of life on the streets of Hanoi. After work, everyone tries to get home as fast as they can, because the longer you take, the more traffic joins in the race of life. Generally at a figure of 52 metric tonnes a minute. So, if you are unlucky enoughto still be on the roads at 5:34pm or 8:46am, you are likely to be crawling forward in a mass of thick pollution (enough to make ur doctor think u've been a heavy smoker for 8 years) and a clanging of bikes as they all "gently" encourage eachother through to the finish line, wherever that is. Well, lately I have been stepping up my game. i have lost all inhibitions recently harboured by fear of crashing, and have put on my "boots of precision" and "helmet of boldness" and have been driving like a real Hanoian. I don't look behind me, I just go and merge and force other drivers to move around me. If someone is about to swerve into me or merge into me I refuse to move, and therefore take the advanced position when they realise I'm not going to budge. When the traffic is stopped, I use my size advantage of a bicycle to squeeze thru small spaces between moving cars and along the edge of the pavement where bikes can't fit, and I HAVE BEEN VICTORIOUS! HAHA! Often I actually laugh and declare victory chants under my breath as I overtake other competitors....I can actually travel faster than cars and motorbikes now and this gives me a feeling of competetive victory. Unless there is no traffic, and I go back to being the slow pleb on the traffic road of life......... But yes, I have been enjoying travelling to and from work every day. And Mum, if you are reading this, don't stress, I am a very aware driver. I mean rider. Pleb.One thing I have learnt to master is the use of shields. When crossing a busy flow of traffic, it is vital to use other commuters as shields, and if you are at the top of the line, it is your humanitarian duty to be the shield. Which means you have to push out into the oncoming traffic knowing that they will veer around you, HOPING they will veer around you, and you lead you and your "team" to the other side where you merge and go on your merry way again. It's actually quite a beautiful experience, kind of looks like half of the flying V of ducks. Nature at its best. Although I discovered a problem yesterday when using a huge black car/4x4 as a shield, cos i couldnt see past it. And as I was using it as my shield, it suddenly accellerated and left me in the middle of the road with oncoming traffic coming my way...note to self..... only use shields you can see through.
Anyway, that is alot about traffic, how boring for my readers, I promise a more interesting post next time!!! Love to you all!!!
