Plus three

The weather’s been warming up and the snow’s been gone for a while now, so naturally I started thinking about my bicycle. Today, finally, I got it onto the road. I don’t really have a good excuse for waiting so long, but I’m really glad I didn’t wait any longer. When I left the house right after lunch, the thermometer in the window read +3 (Celsius all the way) and the sun was shining. I didn’t really know how many layers to put on, but guessed correctly and had a great time in the sun.

The bike path is already in good shape. Municipal workers have cleaned up the winter’s debris and though there’s nothing green growing beside the path yet I certainly enjoyed being out in nature practicing my favorite sport. Whether I’m in good shape is another matter. It looks like I’ve been too easy on myself when I rode the spin bikes at the gym, and six kilometers into my ride I began to feel my legs and wondered if I should even shorten my ride a bit. After another six, however, I started to feel pretty normal and I ended up riding my planned 26 without big changes in pace.

Alla reports a second plus for the day. Last night she went to the supermarket and bought a few things. Unfortunately, she forgot to take the celery from the check-out basket when she loaded up her bag to come home. So she called the store and asked them to look for it, and today she went to find it waiting for her. I’m always impressed by the kindness and helpfulness displayed by Belarusian people to each other and to me.

And I can add a third plus: I received an invitation to give a lecture to a business statistics class at one of Minsk’s premiere (non-government) employers. I’ve given this lecture previously in English, but this time I’m gearing up to do it in Russian. I’m kind of excited over the prospect.