The 'flight path' these days is a circuit between the house, the university and my studio. I tend only to do things that fit within whatever flight path I'm on, and that includes seeing friends, unfortunately, and has always been thus unless they squawk enough to break me out of my daily reverie, or front up to my house bearing cold bottles of wine. Dr Sista Outlaw managed it last weekend, Bernice has turned into a weekly fronter in return for a meal and/or the loungeroom airbed (she commutes to Canberra for some of Kevin's PS largesse), and Byrd has worked out that the best time to catch me is 8.30pm on a Wednesday as I settle in for my dose of Adam Hill.
I'm very committed -- we, as a family, have become very committed -- to constructing our lives around our local area so that our flight paths can be travelled by bicycle. I think there's only one day of the week now where I absolutely have to drive the car, and that's because the Aged Poet lives across the lake and I often have to drive her places, but I guess if I ever had to, she's not so far that I couldn't ride. And now that I'm carting things between studio and BookStud, I've finally got around to getting a bicycle basket! What a difference a tray makes; having a basket is just so good that I'm kicking myself for not having organised it years ago. Even not having to wear a backpack as I'm riding is helping my shoulders and neck to relax after work. And now that the weather is getting cool in the mornings, I'm loving the ride. Happy!
It's also nice to have a head-space separation between the Bookstud and my studio. I've been meaning to tackle the helltype in the Bookstud for years now, but usually get distracted by the urge to fold a few pages /set some type/ print a wee poster while I talk to students or residents, but now I can really knuckle down and clean the place up. Mind you, this is an annual resolution (happy new academic year!) and rarely gets far, but I've already cleaned out one tray of type bundles this morning, that included projects that are at least ten years old, and I'm feeling righteous. My ultimate aim is to have all the type in its right place, all the dust vacuumed up (I have a natty German type vacuum, with special speeds and netting over the hose etc), and all the type catalogued. And then I'll be starting on my own personal collection at my studio. Once I can lift the trays. That's one thing I'm NOT doing today. Sorting *only*.
I also rediscovered the Book Studio blog, poor neglected creature that was put thoroughly on the backburner last year because there was just so much going on. Well, this year's visitor promises to have an exciting, constantly evolving project, and I'm going to do my darndest to document it on the blog. So if you're interested, throw the URL back on your feedreaders.
OK, that's my tea-break done. Back to the type.
2 comments:
Is the basket a front one or a back basket?
I've been procrastinating over a basket for ages, mainly because I'm concerned a front basket will increase drag on the bike and slow me down, but I can't put one on the back as I'd like to get a bike child seat to carry my little one around some times...
I use panniers most of the time, but they become cumbersome with the child seat attached.
So far, I'm leaning toward a good, stable front basket.
I'm enjoying riding on cool mornings too. That's the nice thing about autumn. The cool mornings soon warm up again. Usually.
It's a locked-in back basket, as opposed to a removeable one. Much as I liked the idea of a basket being able to be unclipped and taken into the shops, I didn't like the idea of anyone else unclipping it when I was parked if I didn't take it.
I think front baskets are good, although a lot of them seemed too small for the sort of things I wanted to carry, like big art books.
But if I still had a small child sitting at the back of my bike (as Bumblebee used to), I'd probably be fine with a front basket. Whatever works at the time to make your life easier is the golden rule!
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