As I was biking in to work this morning, I came to an intersection. As the light for the cross-street turned yellow, this guy starts crossing the street. By the time our light was green, he was only halfway across. Unsurprisingly, I started to go across with the cars next to me. This guy, in the greatest of Eastern European accents screams at us “RRRRRED LIGHT!!” while wildly gesturing at the traffic light. I quietly pointed to the light and said “No, it’s not, actually,” but he didn’t respond, preferring to think we hated him and decided to run the light, en masse. Oh well…

Biking in Boston is not the most straightforward of things. Well, maybe it is – you bike and drivers do everything in their power to try to stop you. But I have a new tactic that’s been working quite well: it amounts to yelling at the drivers when they do stupid things. It sounds simplistic, I know, but you can’t argue with success. Since it’s the summertime, a reasonable percentage of car windows are open, so the yelling is heard, and I’ve had several drivers apologize (in Boston, no less!) when alerted to their reckless driving. Maybe it’s even making them pay attention more the next time. Perhaps that’s asking too much.