Riding Upside Down

Have you ever had the opportunity to be scrutinized by a lawman? How about a gaggle of them? I had the good fortune to enjoy this experience today. Anne and I spent all of the morning trying to de-hovel the old homestead. Dan’s room in particular, was targeted for extraordinary rendition. Nink and Bob, et al, are arriving later this week for Andrew’s graduation, so more than the ordinary house-keeping is required. It looks a lot better, but I’m afraid that we’ll still have to issue our house guests bike helmets. There is still a lot of congestion at the head room level, what with all of Dan’s hanging objects d’art. I keep telling Anne that it will drive Bob crazy and she always says, “What’s wrong with that?”

Back to the lawmen, soon. I spent all morning running up and down two flights of steps, so by lunchtime, I was exhausted. Then I went for a bike ride. The weather was sunny, in the mid-thirties, cool, but bright. Ice was forming on the ponds. Steinberg rink was doing a good business. There were enough other cyclist out to easily make quota. I checked on the F/A-18 and it was still parked in front of the planetarium. I then got it in my head that I wanted to take a picture of lorikeets. There is a billboard on the way to work that features a picture of lorikeets and the simple message, “To rent this billboard, call …” So off to the zoo I headed.

As I was locking up my bike, I noticed a group of people across the street. They were standing in a grove of trees and I thought that they might be birders on a nature walk. Giving them no further thought, I headed into the Living World and was greeted by the full attention of policemen, rangers and security personnel, half-a-dozen in total. At first, I assumed that their attentions were derived from my bike garb, see the picture above, but their attentions persisted.

Mox nix, I headed to the children’s zoo, but unfortunately, the lorikeets are not on display during the winter. I then wandered around the zoo for an hour. On the way out, the law was still at their station. The group of thirty people was still across the street. I unlocked my bike, adjusted my kit and when I next looked up, the birders were gone. Passing by their site, I noticed a couple of Occupy Saint Louis placards that had been left behind.

The mists cleared and it finally dawned on me why there was so much law enforcement about. They are the occupier’s fan club, their constant companions. I finished out my miles. I saw the occupiers one more time, they were over by the visitor’s center this time. I stopped by the grocery store on the way home to do the shopping. No car driving today, not even the Prius. I got 15 miles.