Cicero on wheels

I left home at 4:10 this Sunday morning, June 6. If I hadn't spent 10 minutes hunting for my coin purse uttering assorted oaths, it would have been the planned 4 o'clock. However, I found it in my back pocket 15 minutes later. After forgiving myself, I decided to call it a good omen for the day's ride.

At 6:15 I reached my first way point. That is where the Tama River meets Haneda Airport. For so early in the morning there were a great many people walking, jogging or bicycling - most of them getting in my way or was I the mad gaijin abusing my privileges as a guest in Japan? Two hours and 30 some kilometers later I was upstream near Fuchu. A perfect day for a ride. Back home just before 11 after a 30-minute rest at Doutor in Fuchu in the company of Stendhal.

What does this rider do for six and a half hours? As enjoyable as cursing pedestrians, truck drivers and pet dogs given too much slack by doting masters is, these are not enough to fill the time. The pleasure of viewing the greenery along the banks of the Tama is genuine and the jumble of homes and shops that is Tokyo is entertaining to see, but I fill the time by rehearsing insightful speeches whose contents and intended audience I find too embarrassing to reveal.