Missing Monks

I'm in a parking garage with a rental car to buy bread buns for Grandma.  Got the buns, paid the garage, now I just have to get out of the underground. Cars are moving towards the exit gate from two directions; usually the zipper system is the solution for this.  An expensive woman in an expensive car disagrees when she catapults her car's nose in front of mine.

A line from The 5th Element:  Evil begets Evil !

Her face is disfigured by unbridled HATE.  I don't have to be a lip reader to see that the snapping of her chin and the movements of her mouth are exactly those that I would see if she was shouting FUCK OFF at me at the top of her lungs.  I actually start laughing.  Of course she avoids eye contact after her outburst, something Vancouverites are experts at. Better to look at that mysterious object in your rear-view mirror than at the bus driver who is almost bursting a coronary because you cut him off and half his passengers are barely standing after the harsh braking.  Being rude and inconsiderate is one thing. Not even having the spine to apologize for that is another.    

Rot in Hell, Rude Retards.  

he's got it figured out

And it's her loss that she doesn't look.  Once I cut off a woman in a car by accident.  I then saw her coming around in the rear view mirror with anger in her face.  When she was right next to me I gave her a Namaste and an apologetic face and she couldn't help but SMILE.  It's not that difficult.




















A day later I have to pick up my bike at the other end of town. Time is scarce, so I ask the hotel receptionist to call me a taxi. She does and I go out to the parking lot to smoke. A rather unsympathetic greasy big-bellied guy that had been waiting in the reception area follows me and keeps staring at me. 

At least it didn't lead to this

I try to ignore him but every time I check, he's still staring at me with a facial expression that is hard to interpret, but could be worn by an ax-murderer eyeing his next victim (I could be wrong; to my knowledge I have never met an ax murderer). This goes on for about 7 to 10 minutes. Then a taxi arrives. I turn towards it, when Mr. Ax shouts at me in a hissing tone "That's my cab!".  OMFG.  A simple sentence 10 minutes ago informing me that he had already ordered one and that the first taxi would be his would have sufficed and spared him the staring and the hissing. What is wrong with people?

Today I cycle along a path that in parts is pedestrians only. The route I take to it doesn't have any signs to that effect ;-) I being I, I slow down and make room every time I see a pedestrian. That's what I do for the guy who then shouts "This trail is a no-bikes trail!  But You don't give a shit, do you?"  I am speechless for a moment, and only manage to reply in a demure tone "At least I'm friendly!".

Then (also today) there is this woman taking selfies of herself right in the middle of the bike/pedestrian lane on Lions Gate Bridge.  She is turning her back against the oncoming bike traffic and must be playing LOUD music through the headphones she is wearing because she is deaf to my rather loud bell. When I pass her with ample space between us, she jumps away from me and emits a horrible high-pitched squealing noise. Next time you're admiring your appearance in your cell phone, hon, please don't switch off your brain. I'm sure her friends will hear that a rude cyclist almost ran her off the bridge and only a miracle saved her from the deadly fall.


Learning that my friend Alan is on his way to Hong Kong doesn't help. Hong Kong is less than 3 hours flight from Phnom Penh, a city where people have little but what they have is their smiles and their dignity. And all the money in Vancouver can't make Vancouverites smile without antidepressants and expensive clothes and cars do not convey dignity.