Monday, October 18, 2010

Meep Meep!

I've discovered another reason to keep cycling on rainy days:

That's the second one this month! The first was a scruffy little fella who suddenly appeared from a patch of mist in the cemetery when I was out for a run; he looked terrified, and ran away immediately. Today's sighting was a magnificent specimen: fully grown, with a gorgeous coat and big bushy tail, a brave and handsome boy who stood and watched me for a while before deciding I wasn't a threat and getting on with his day.

I used to see foxes almost every week on my bike commute in Glasgow - usually in the woods, but sometimes in the vet school campus where I worked - and it always made my day. Coyotes still seem terribly exotic to me, and the sightings are rarer, so that thrill goes double.

I wasn't scared at all - hey, if he'd started chasing me he'd no doubt have slammed into a cliff or fallen into a canyon within a few seconds* - but it was a great reminder of why the cats need to stay inside at night!

ETA: right on cue, the BBC have an article today on the role of cemeteries in preserving urban biodiversity!

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*hi, Facebook and Twitter friends! Yes, I recycle my jokes for the good of the environment.
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4 comments:

  1. Bob O'HOctober 18, 2010 at 1:05 p.m.

    Ah, there are a couple of corollaries resulting from this post:

    1. you cycle too fast
    2. If anyone ever wants to stop you for a couple of seconds, they just have to put out a pile of bird food.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Cath@VWXYNot?October 18, 2010 at 1:28 p.m.

    Yeah, my feet are just a blur.

    If you don't have bird seed, you could always try a rocket-powered jet pack, or maybe a giant catapult.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Professor in TrainingOctober 18, 2010 at 9:32 p.m.

    I'm only a couple of days away from packing my bike away for the winter. Rode to work this morning and my legs were numb by the time I got there. Between that and the slippery frost on my front porch, it's too damned cold for me.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Cath@VWXYNot?October 19, 2010 at 6:26 a.m.

    Slippery frost is definitely a good reason not to cycle! I don't mind the cold so much if it's not slippery, although it does make me late to my desk sometimes because my hands get so cold I can't get dressed quickly enough after riding to work!

    ReplyDelete

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