Jungle boogie, cycle accident

Shortly before 8am and i'm pedalling backwards but moving forwards, the dark winter night around me slowly un-folds into day but i'm not prepared for this dawn. My conscious is still wrapped up in a generous duvet. Pitch black. Dreaming obscure.

I'm already comfortable in new familiarity.

Back in street-lit reality, for a split second there's an elderly woman lying across my handlebars. This seems odd as my fantasies are usually younger. She's vanished as quick as she arrived but the combination of the car horns i've swerved into, the elderly woman bouncing across the cobbles in-front of me and the screams above an obscure Kool & the Gang track reinforce the sudden belief this is not a dream.

My new bike is a typical Dutch 'bak fiets' with no brakes on the handle bars but can be stopped by pedalling backwards. It takes some getting used to, as my first 'cycle accident' can testify.

The elderly lady admitted complete responsibility (for turning but not indicating) and was thankfully un-hurt. Though below the knee, her trousers were beyond repair. I spoke bad Dutch but apologised for for not stopping and handed back her keys, which had been thrown a couple of meters from the point of initial impact.

My bak fiets is truly Dutch, yet Swedish in design. Thanks to a bunch of clever students in Uppsala, Kronan is derived and re-born from a Swedish military design of the 1940's. I didn't know the Swedes even had an army. Its with little wonder that with all those gorgeous blonde girlfriends & wives, they remained neutral and turned their hands to cycle design.
Thank-you Sweden,
Sorry again elderly lady.

-Glenn,
Amstelveen.