I like riding my bicycle, but I haven’t ridden it much recently until today.
Today I rode around my local area for an hour, from 5pm to 6pm. Dusk is my favourite time of day, but this ride was not enjoyable.
I was on neighbourhood patrol, especially checking the local park and some narrow streets near the station. There must be thousands of people all over Japan doing the same thing every day.
It was dark by 6pm, and there was no-one in the park. There was no trouble at all, and I spent one hour thinking what a waste of time.
I thought about this all night, and I realized that it is certainly NOT a waste of time. Nothing happened because there are regular patrols.
The next day my legs felt very tight, and it was actually a good feeling; my 1 hour of cycling had been very good exercise and I have promised myself to cycle more often.
thiNK TWice 
It’s good to hear you like your bicycle, Maayaa, only 20 minutes from Mishima to Numazu, wow, you must have ridden fast!
And a bicycle is environmentally-friendly, isn’t it? I hope you can get a new one in the near future.
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I like bicycle too. I lived in country. It takes 30 minutes to go to convenience stores by car. So I used to ride a bicycle to go to my friends house, playgrounds, shopping etc. I taught children of my neighborhood how to ride a bicycle. And I raced with my friends cars seldom run in my country. Incidentally, I always won. When I worked part-time in Numazu, I commuted by bicycle from Mishima. I took just 20 minutes to go to Numazu by bicycle. I tried to bicycle hard like that, a pair pedal of mine own bicycle was broken. I was very shocked and amazed. I haven’t ridden since that. If I have enough money to buy it, I want it. I wish I try to hard again…..
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Who watches the watcher?
I live in a country side, and I love to visit a nearby hill and a little creek at the foot of the hill. It’s only a ten minutes walk from my house and it offers a very good opportunity to meet many small creatures: tortoises, carps and other fish, clubs, birds, insects and occasional reptiles. But these days, I’m not quite at ease while I’m strolling. Especially when my little walk coincides with the children’s coming home from schools, and when the loud speakers call for the attention: “Children are on their way home from school, go outside and watch over them!”
In a country side, a man does not walk alone; he is either toiling in his workplace or driving a car. Therefore I, a solitary walker in a reverie, should be a suspect of child abuse in the eyes of good people. I am a public enemy. You, the watcher, are in the lookout for me. And other watchers all over the world are in the vigil for the folks they love, as some neighbors who hold different values are sure to disturb the peace.
What an age we live! When I was a child back in 1960s, 21st century seemed like all the dreams come true, but now we are shrinking; shrinking for we fear many things, shrinking into a virtual reality to stay as far as possible from the frontier in the real world. And if you allow me to make a big thing out of small one, we are heading back straight into the Middle Ages, where the stability rules over the progress, and where, if you don’t do things as others do, you are hunted down as a witch. I believe this retrograde started when US cut short the Apollo mission to the moon, but I must refrain from playing a prophet for now.
I have to focus on our vigil. And I want to make this very clear that, when I say “Who watches the watcher?” I have no intention of accusing the watcher for any misconduct. Rather I want to caution against the good intention and the good deed themselves, for they are often in conflict with the progress and the freedom. And I know I cannot maintain my argument, for I am saying “the good is bad”. It must be easier to hunt for a white raven.
I also know that you are the family person, 2pat. I am happy that you make yourself a guardian for your loved ones. I just wanted to point out an alternative view for the sake of our keeping sharp senses.
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