And now it is Sunday. It’s been a good day. It rained last night and that added to the humidity. I watched the first episode of the new season of The Boys. I put it on the other night since Bill and I watched previous episodes but Bill said it was too gory and did not want to watch.

That was a surprise. His mind was made up and my attempt to explain it away as mere comic book violence fell on deaf ears. And it was gory. I watched the recap and I guess it had been a long time since I last watched and they showed quite a bit that I have no recollection of.

Then again, do I really watch TV these days? I’m usually looking at the computer while the TV plays over my shoulder, three feet away. The TV is more like a radio with pictures that I sometimes turn my head to watch. There were a few episodes in the new season but last night I wasn’t that interested. Some other time perhaps.

Bill was up at 4 AM off to do his work. I of course slept in. And though he doesn’t drink coffee himself, Bill likes to make the coffee for me, all I have to do is turn on the coffee maker. It used to run on a schedule but that burned itself out. Bill wanted to get a new coffee maker but this one still works.

The last flash of lightning was very close to me just now, maybe 100 feet from my window and this computer. Ominous? Tempting fate?

The sun showed itself just around noon and I took that as a sign to get ready to go bicycling. Once again to North Bergen. A change of familiar scenery. I think the rain last night kept a lot of people away from the Hudson River Walkway since there was hardly anyone around.

I did keep an eye out for the little older lady who is probably 15-20 years older than me who yelled if I had passed her earlier in the day last week. I was hoping it was a thing that she does, randomly asking passing cyclists pointed questions. Alas, she was nowhere to be found. It was an enjoyable ride regardless, the views of the GWB and the Verrazano were somewhat obscured by fog and haze.

A mellow ride back to Hoboken where the walkway is in terrible disrepair. I had a better handle on how to deal with it so it was almost easy. That part of the bicycling was a drag.

Right now it is pouring down in a thundershower. The thunder part seems to have moved on but like a meteorologist, I can be wrong half the time. The rain is falling straight down so I can have an open window and allow some of that humidity to come right in. If only I had a stash of some good cigars to take advantage of that humidity.

Saturday, August 17, 2024. Had a good bike ride, a bit faster (?) than usual. Not much of a rest this time around, I was riding for the sake of it. I slept a little bit later than usual, not getting out of bed at 9:00 AM but sleeping in a little bit more.

I had a dream where a younger Bill with horrendous eyewear was leaving me. It was a distressing dream and made me very sad. I told Bill about it and he laughed it off since it was absurd. Totally made up of fragments of long ago that have nothing to do with what passes for real life today.

I did my usual Saturday grocery shopping at Shop Rite where they’re really trying to cut contact with customers. More sel-checkout, only 2 populated registers and there were lines forming at each cashier. This is how it’s going to be. I don’t like the layout of the store but they are not going to change it back for me.

There was a guy before me at a lone self-checkout so I maintained a respectful distance as he took items out of his bag and scanned them before putting them back in his bag. He eyed me suspiciously and I thought that was because I was not looking at my phone. He skedaddled and I took my cart to the scanner.

An employee told me I couldn’t use this checkout since it was for the supercarts that tally up your items when you take them off the shelf and put them in your supercart. I mentioned the guy before just used it and she explained that was because she didn’t have a chance to prevent his paying for groceries.

As this little chat went on I was scanning my items. She said I could not do that because what if a supercart came up. I looked around and I was safe and not blocking the exchange of capital and data for anyone with a supercart. I also explained to her that the more she delays me from doing my own capital exchange could hinder the progress of the arrival of a supercart.

There was also a supercart manager giving me the hairy eyeball. I was able to jet on out of there and realized that to these people I was just another cranky old white guy. Which was the guy before me as well. We do not travel in packs.

After chilling out with Bill for an hour or two, I put on the bike shorts and helmet and gather my items for an afternoon bicycle ride. When I headed down the front steps with my Unique Lotus bike on my shoulder I noticed some drying raindrops on the steps and sidewalk. I hesitated for a second but decided to go ahead.

I felt a few more raindrops as I rode down the block and as I headed south toward Jersey City, opted to turn back. As I turned back I turned back again and was back on my usual route to Liberty State Park. No frills, just a 5-minute break under the tree I like and soon I was back in Hoboken.

I’m glad I did it since it did not rain until about an hour after I had climbed the four flights of steps, my knees mumbling loudly.