I picked the girls up from school as I normally would and called Jay to see if he'd like me to swing over to get him from work. He told me that he was walking to our last management company to drop off the keys of infestation and doom. I said that I'd meet him there.It was nearly 4 on a Friday, which is apparently rush hour in Philly? Who knew? I've lived here for two years and I had no idea.
Also, for unknown reasons, Philly was insanely busy today. There was auto and foot traffic everywhere. My destination was deep in the insanity of center city. The traffic was gridlock. I saw a parking spot ahead, put on my blinker, checked my mirror and slowly began veering to the left to pull into it.
That's when I hit a young hipster on his bike.
Obviously I stopped my car immediately.
I jumped out.
But he was already running away.
So, naturally, I chased him.
I was yelling, "Are you okay?" sort of repetitiously and frantically. Sporadically I'd add "I'm so sorry." And I remember blurting something out about my insurance.
Believe it or not, he never even turned to look at me.
He shouted, "Yeh. I'm great," sarcastically and kept going.
So, here's what I've gathered from the group of spectators that stood with their mouth agape (one even offered to run and get me some water. But that was after I started crying.)
I guess that he was weaving in and out of traffic, as bike riders in Philly are known to do. When I was pulling into my parking spot he was in my blind spot.
My life is so bad that it's becoming comical.
I'm reminded of that Ani Difranco lyric:
"Life just keeps getting harder and it just keeps getting harder to hide. The darker it is around me, the easier it is to see inside."
