What people do on bikes

I live downtown. With rising fuel prices, combined with the downtown city living lifestyle, many people in the core tend to use bikes to get around. Lately though, some of the things I've observed on bikes is getting out of hand. I was driving to work (uptown, not bikeable unless you're a maniac) and the cyclist in front of me was in a full suit and in his right hand, clutched firmly on the handlebars, was a huge bouquet of tropical flowers. I guess his heart was in the right place, but I wondered if he was jeopardizing his life because of lack of control on the bike. With this in mind, are the flowers really worth it?

There's also a slightly worrying trend of the downtown ladies to cycle in full skirts and heels. Somehow I'm not even surprised when I see this going on anymore. Indecent exposure is apparently not enough to scare them into skorts! I worry that the heels could somehow get stuck and the control of the two-wheeled vehicle could be compromised.

And these random acts of cycling are just the beginning. What's next? I've seen cyclists on cell phones (not even on headsets, full out holding a phone to the ear), groceries being precariously hung from the front handle bars...

I personally have a hard time with cars in general. I was hit by a car some years ago and am still scared of them hitting me again. Because I have the memory of the trauma that affected on my body and I'm never going to forget that. Only two years ago when NI was dating a drumming Brazilian guy, he used to cycle all over the city with his drums carefully tied onto the back of his bike. He eventually convinced me to tune up the bike a former colleague had given me and one day I biked to the World Cup final in Little Italy. On the way home, I was crossing Queen Street and my tire got stuck in the streetcar tracks. I was thrown over the front wheel and into oncoming traffic, who luckily, didn't hit me. A kind lady who was waitressing at the restaurant on the corner, picked me up, sat me down and put a glass of water into my shaking hands. I haven't really had the urge to ride downtown since. I'd rather walk.