Let's give it up for the fact that I have internet! YAY!! I have internet! Repeat! I have internet!! I don't have to bike to an internet cafe and pay for internet, I don't have to go to a restaurant on my lunch break that has internet and use theirs, I don't have to sit in back alleys in the bar/club district and pick up internet from a bar. I dont have to do that because, me, Jeremy White, do now have internet at my own, very own, personalized apartment!!! SAGOY!! (great)
Story time!!! So as you all may or may not know, I bike everywhere that I go, except for the occassions where I may take a bus to a mall that would be about 30 minutes by bike. But anyways, my bike has a basket in the front. I know, it's pimpin, and I know, you are jealous. But seriously, everyone has a basket and if you don't have a basket it's pretty stupid because how else are you going to be able to take things that you've bought, or have with you back to where you reside? Think about it...
So anyways. No one wears helmets here. Seriously, no one. Unless they are on a moped or motorcycle actually riding on the street, no one wears a helmet, period. Sidenote....so I get pulled over for going across a street where there weren't any cars...but my personal safety if I fall off my bike doesnt concern the police...hmmmm....anyways.
So I'm having a good day, probably last Wednesday or so and I'm biking to the convenience store to get some food for lunch. It's kind of raining, but mostly sprinkling and maybe not even that much, but the point is, the ground was wet. So as you know, I don't have a mountain bike, I basically have a Mary Poppins bike (but it's pimpin Pimpin...). As I'm going through a small intersection I see that there is a better way to get back up on the sidewalk rather than going over a tiny curb. I was biking rather quickly and the part that connected the street intersection to the curb was almost a 90 degree turn, but not quite. I had to avoid the curb that is about 5 feet in front of me, while going fast, and turning quickly. Yes, this is a recipe for disaster. Keep in mind, I just left work for my lunch break, so that means I am still in my suit.
As I turn and miss the curb in front of me and go on the smoother surface I realized that I was going to fast and I wasn't able to turn back to the right to go straight down the sidewalk, I hit a small cement block, you know, the ones used for parking spaces. And flew forward while trying to brace myself with my hands. I wiped out and couldnt believe that I had just had my first big accident, and it was on a bike....a bike with a basket... There was a Japanese man walking behind me and now, since I wiped out, he was walking past me. He didn't even stop to look at me or show any level of concern. I'm actually kind of surprised that he didn't smile and laugh..actually, I'd have rathered him laugh at me because he just COMPLETELY ignored me. Picture this, a man, a tall man, a tall man in Japan, a tall black man in Japan wearing a black trench coat in a suit with a Pikachu beanie on...yes...I wear my Pokemon beanie, it's awesome. Now picture that same man totally, by no fault of ANYone else, hitting the pavement because he wiped out on his Mary Poppins bike. Yes....my pride was hurt. But luckily, no one I knew saw it. And what I mean by that is that I was glad that none of my students, co-workers, or the people that I see virtually every day that work at the convenience store, saw it. So I have officially had my first fender bender with my bike, I crashed into the ground, and I was the victim. I know you are all probably so concerned about one thing though. Yes, my suit is ok, no scuffs, no stains, and no rips, it came out of that accident like a pro.
I am loving Tottori more and more. You will see in the pictures that I went to the sand dunes yesterday. I listened to some very relaxing flutes and strings music while I sat on top of these massive sand dunes. I can say that at this point and time that that place has to be my favorite beach of all time.
Alright all, that's all for now. Yay I have internet, yay I'm loving Japan, and yay I had my first (and hopefully last and only) bike accident. Be cool.
Jeremy aka- The Mary Poppins Wipeout
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