Day 10 - Aug 25: 65.9 kg, Cycling: 38 min, 9.55 km
Sandip left early morning. I tried to nap for an hour, but was up by 8 am. Though I was sleep deprived, I wanted to go cycling. The weather was favorable…it wasn’t sunny. So I thought I’ll think no more and will just head out after the maid leaves.
Started from home at 9:10 am. I knew I would encounter the Saturday office- hour traffic. I went slow and easy. As I turned right into the Ooty Chocolates road, where I dodged traffic from opposite directions, I was again struck with images of being banged by a vehicle from a side. I frequently get these images when I am cycling…am almost sure it will happen one day to me…I will be struck by a speeding vehicle coming perpendicularly and will be banged and dragged to some distance. The next immediate thought was who would in the list of my emergency contacts. I made a mental note of carrying a printed copy of all emergency contact numbers if anything should happen to me. I should take that list even when I am driving.
Anyways, I was chugging along the Ooty chocolates road, sticking to the left side, as close as possible to the footpath. And was thinking about some vehicle hitting me and that I should be carrying emergency contact numbers. And just then I was hit by a car. From the right. Bang! It was almost as if the guy was coming straight for me. His car banged into my front tyre, which in turn, uprooted a bit of his left-side bumper. I was completely shaken. I had already been breathing very heavily and then this shocker. The guy was with his son. I was angry “Boss, I am riding completely on the left side.” He was apologetic. Thankfully, I realized, it was not my mistake. At least, I would not have to get into any arguments or fights in the middle of the road. He explained that there was a two-wheeler that zipped from the right, which forced him to make a sudden swerve to the left and he ended up hitting me. Both he and his son apologized.I straightened up my bike, took a look at myself and the bike to see if I and the bike are still in a state to ride. He asked me if I was okay and whether I needed help. I told him no and that I was okay. All this happened so quickly. Meanwhile, the cars had lined up at the signal ahead. There was a guy on a two-wheeler who was continuously looking back to see what had happened. I suspect he was the culprit. Anyways, that was that and I moved on. The rest of the ride was safe and sound. I was going to examine myself at home to check for any physical injuries…while riding, I could not feel any pain or discomfort. This was officially my second cycling accident. Similar to the first one, it happened when Sandip was not in town.
Reached home, bathed, had breakfast. Stepped out after the cook left. First, to the post office to speed post the ITR V acknowledgement. Next, I was on to my bigger mission for this weekend I had been so excited about. My Sunny Balcony (MSB) in Ulsoor. Took the Viveknagar > Victoria Layout > Trinity Circle route. I was proud of myself. But once on Ulsoor Road, I was nervous how I would find the place. I kept looking on the right side across the road to see if I could spot the store or any signage for directions. I went till the end, took a U-turn, and started driving down again. Luckily, found the Aga Abbas Ali Road and took a left into that lane. Drove down but the store was nowhere in sight. The lane was so narrow that I could not even stop at any place to check the maps. Finally found one spot to park, so stopped there and checked the maps. I could not figure it out. I decided to drive till the end of the road because the store had to be on this road. As luck would have it, just when I started the car, I spotted the store. It was just the next property to where I had stopped the car. :)
I did not find the store very impressive. It was not well stocked. The lady said that their driver had been off for Ramzan and thats why they havent been able to ship the products from their office (in Jayamahal). The products looked nicer in the pictures posted on FB. One also cannot make out the dimensions for the brackets and racks from the pictures. Some of the stuff that I did like was not available in the shape and color I wanted. They also did have the white pebbles (Rs 40 for 1 kg) that I wanted but they had no means to weigh them. Ultimately, I bought 4 pots of different colors.
Made a note to carry drinking water in the car on Sunday.
The way back was via Indiranagar. I mean, it was completely unintentional. So I stopped at Green Essence. The girl recognized me and asked me if the planter had fit well. I picked two more long planters, a trellis, and three plants - bougainvillea, petunia, some sort of palm.
I also took a tour of The Orange Bicycle since it had been on the agenda. Nice stuff but picked nothing.
Headed to Costa to quench my thirst. And then back home. I left the pots in the car. Got only the plants with me in the first round. Was I hammered. I thought I’ll sleep for two hours and then go to the gym. HA ha ha ha ha! Yeah, I am quite ambitious at times. I could hardly sleep. My legs were aching from cycling. The realistic me canceled the gym plan.
Read about painting pots. My Friday’s trip to Itsy Bitsy has motivated me endlessly to use all their stuff in one or the other project. I had also picked a glass and glass paint from them, so I started looking for design patterns I could paint. Turns out much of the stuff on the net is copyrighted. I’ll have to make a trip to a book store to get some templates. And now I also needed to paint and decorate the pots from MSB.
Aug 26: 65.9 kg, Cycling: 1:10 min, 18.29 km