Fiets

I am the proud owner of a new used fiets (that's Flemish for bike). It doesn't have the banana seat I was looking for, but it was only € 50 and that's practically free. The entryway of our house has gone from a Winter beer and butter 'frig. to a Spring fiets garage.

Jim disassembled Ross's bike, packed it in a box, brought it back from the States and reassembled it. So it was only fitting that I get a bike too. Jim's (aka Ross's) fiets has 21 gears. Mine has 3 - which in fact may be 2 too many.

Today I braved the traffic, pedestrians, hondjes (Flemish refresher - that's "doggy"), and other fiets (Flemish for - see paragraph one). I can't say I enjoyed it, but I did survive it so that's something. It was actually pretty unnerving. I no doubt need to do some serious studying up on the rules of the road before I venture much further than the entryway again.

It's almost embarrassing that men and women 25 years older than me use this as their only mode of transportation. I haven't ridden a bike since . . . well, frankly I guess the last one was at the gym. And I'll just say that was several years ago.

The uncanny thing about it was forcing myself stay in the bike lane. For all these months I've kept out of that lane so to avoid being "belled" at or worse, getting mowed down. These people are serious about getting from point A to point B.

Our neighbor asked if I was going to get a basket for Winslow. Ha. I can't even imagine risking his life along with my own. It just doesn't seem right. Innocent hondje and all. Which reminds me . . . there is this older guy who's always impeccably dressed and has a dog about Winslow's size. He rides with this dog in a basket on the front of his bike. He whizzes by going about 20 mph (I don't know what that is off the top of my head in kilos per hour, but assume it's fast 'cause it is). This guy is moving. The dog is a real pro, looking ahead with ears flying back. A sight to see. I have got to get this on film. I definitely don't see this scenario in mine and Winslow's future. Plus, this guy's way more fashionable than me and if me and Winslow start doing stunts like that someone may film us and . . . well, you get the picture.

So it seems everyone in Hasselt has a fiets. And now we do ook.