Too Early Vigilance

I sit myself most days right smack in an area called the Capital Area Complex. That means this is the hub of all the state's business. Virtually every state government agency has its headquarters here. The heartbeat of the Great State Of Texas, as it were. Anyway, the northern boundary of this complex happens to separate the southern boundary of the University of Texas campus, that has a bustle to it like a crowded downtown in a big city. That is when regular semester session is in place. This is the last week of the Christmas holidays for colleges and the little town of UT is nice and quiet. Next Monday things will change. This place will be packed full of pedestrians, cyclists, and car drivers looking for that un-obtainable place to park.
I've seen this happen time and again. That is, the police show up with their big truck loaded with their cool police bikes. They then ride on the sidewalks right where there are signs saying no bicycles on the sidewalk, and cruise for people to ticket who are riding on the sidewalk.
Now I'm not against policing against riding on the sidewalk, in fact I am dead against anyone riding their bike on a sidewalk. Only under the most dire circumstances should one ride on a sidewalk. But what I have witnessed over the past few years is the consistency of inconsistency. The cops show up when the campus is empty, the sidewalks are bare and they perform policing action against nothing that needs policing. They will disappear by Friday afternoon and will not be seen until spring break, and then again at the end of the semester when the campus is empty again. In the meantime there will be students walking around preoccupied with calculus or Plato, or something, which makes them perfect obstacle buoys for racehorse cyclists weaving in and out, to and fro. Now I am a cyclist, so don't get me wrong, I think regulations should be adhered to.
So, I go up and introduce myself to the young officer leaning on the truck and have a friendly conversation with him. Of course I express my opinions to him as I have with all the other policemen that I talk to just before semester starts and he is agreeable but they are just doing what they are told to do. And I understand that. But it still rubs me a bit.


Warm Rains
This morning half way to work, it rained quite hard on me. I was in a short sleeve shirt and shorts. When the big drops first started I thought I was in trouble, but it was warm and felt good. So for five miles I rode in this warm rain. It was nice. I am thinking that since this is the early part of January, I got kind of lucky. Last week it was freezing here. So let me not complain about riding against the south wind as it brings warm moist air from the Gulf of Mexico.