Queen Effie and Me

Queen Effie is my bike, and I love it. I use it for transportation but, in reality, only ride about 15 miles a week. Heck, my son does 36 miles on Saturdays AND another 36 on Sundays. Guess I’m a wimp.

And I try hard to avoid main roads because:

1. Fort Lauderdale drivers are crazy.
2. They go through stop signs.
3. They ignore pedestrian walk signs.
4. They don’t use turn signals.
5. They speed.
6. All these observations have been validated by Uber drivers, bus drivers, taxi drivers, my personal experience, and cafe conversations with angry strangers.

I had an appointment at 9:00 am, only 1.9 miles away. So off we go, riding on the sidewalks,at 8:00 am.

Shouldn’t be a problem BUT trees were planted on the sidewalk!! Construction was happening, roping off the sidewalk. Deep holes were present in the sidewalk. And on and on it went. I arrived, 1.9 miles later, at 9:15. 75 minutes!!! That’s how difficult it was.

I walked most of the way, steering the bike beside me, like a pet. The roads were ‘dealth belts’ so I had no choice. But I made it, late, and then made it back home OK.

But my other Queen Effie story is more frightening.

I’m off the bike, trying to cross a 4 lane seondary road. And I’m peering left, right, left again, and couldn’t find a break in the traffic. No light was available and we were in the middle of a block.

A youngish Caribbean lady came up behind me and said, “I’ll show you how to cross the street.”

She took the bike, I walked beside them and she steadily strode onto the road with oncoming traffic from each side. We just walked straight across the street, eyes forward, step after step. Except for me. My eyes were frantically flitting from left to right, heart pounding, and horror plastered on my face. But we kept walking and……traffic stopped. Just stopped and let us get to the other side.

Then she grinned at me and said, “That’s how you do it.” I smiled and thanked her and promised myself that I will NEVER do that again. Never, Never, Never.