Just after nine in the morning, nasty slushy weather, around freezing. As I come out of the supermarket with a box of groceries and am about to put it in my bike bag a small woman wheeling a shiny blue bike speaks to me.
Small woman: Excuse me, do you know whether the bike lanes are clear?
Me: Well, I used the main lane, I didn’t dare risk the bike lanes.
Small woman: What about the thoroughfares? Did they salt them?
Me: I’m sure they salted [road A] because that’s the way I came, but not the bike lanes. (In fact, an hour and a half earlier, when I had almost reached the swimming pool, I was overtaken by a huffing and grunting municipal snow-plough which not only swept and salted the main lane of the road but also threw any snow that was in its way on to the bike lane; no wonder it was impenetrable. But I didn’t tell the small woman that, because she clearly didn’t listen.)
Small woman: What about [road B]?
Me: I only saw the first part of that at the roundabout, but it was clear all right.
Small woman: As far as [apartment complex about a mile up that road]?
Me: I don’t know, I didn’t pass that way, I turned right at the roundabout. But the part I could see looked completely clear to me.
Small woman: You didn’t pass that way?
Me: No, I didn’t go everywhere!
Small woman: (genuinely surprised, it seems) You didn’t? (thinks) I was thinking of taking the bus instead.
Me: Yes, that’s a good idea, take the bus by all means!
Small woman: Oh, thank you, thank you!