Dans les Rues de Paris - Vélo Fantôme

RIP yellow biker

Yellow Bike, Hurting Heart

I put on Clement le Casque, hopped on my Vélib and biked up avenue Parmentier on my way to work this morning.  While no one was on Parmentier, as soon as I turned left onto rue du Chemin Vert, the traffic was at a stand still.

I whizzed down the left-hand side, past the idling cars, and wondered what the major hold up was all about.  As I passed a moving van and some road construction, I figured it was just bad timing - too many things going on at the same time during rush hour.

Then I heard the sirens.

Then I saw the people watching.

And then I saw the paramedics pulling a white sheet over a lifeless body.  

A yellow bike crushed under the wheels of a large truck.

My heart leapt into my throat, my eyes welled with tears. Two lives changed in an instant - the biker's and the driver's. Someone is dead and someone else killed a human being today.  I am speechless.

I know these kinds of things happen every day. I come from a family of police officers, firemen, nurses...but I  shield myself from these horrors. I don't know how my brother pulls people from fires or how my sister relays her colleagues giving CPR. The sadness of it all would completely break me. 

I can't even watch scary movies. I avoid the news and sad events. 

I called Copain after parking my bike and begged him to start wearing a helmet, to stop running red lights when he rides. He told me we would buy one together.  Part of me never wants to ride a bike again, but I know that's silly. It would be like not taking the metro when Paris is on a high terrorist alert. You can't live in fear. And biking makes me so happy. But still...

My heart hurts for all of the lives affected by what happened this morning - biker, driver, their families, friends. I only hope that the universe will take care of them all, in whatever way they may need it.


Update about this horrible accident found here. The biker was a 26 year-old woman who lived in the 11th arrondissement. The vehicle was a 32 ton garbage truck that was turning right and didn't see the biker in his blind spot. 

An Open Letter to the Universe

Dear Universe,

I know that you are super busy these days dealing with that volcano over in Iceland and all the other issues in the world but could you hear me out for five minutes? 

I need your help.  I need your reassurance.  As you know, my life is in a bit of an upheaval right now.  Nothing is certain - and I know that in the grand scheme of things this statement holds true every single day of my life anyways - BUT right now not even the normally-certain things are certain.  And that, my dear friend, is hard to live with.

Can you please have my back for the next few months?  You know, just give a shout out every now and again or maybe throw down some random acts of amazingness (even small ones).  All would be much appreciated on my end.

I must say you've done a fantastic job already in sending good things my way so for that I truly thank you.  Once I get through this maze of confusion I will stop bugging you and you can focus on all those millions of other things you have on your list.  Promise.

Merci, Gracias, Danke.....Infiniment,
FCC