Since my bike's brakes are worn out to the point that they start digging into the rim, thereby effectively removing the option of the relatively cheap operation it would be to change the brake pads, and instead requiring me to change the whole wheels, which I can't afford at the moment, and since the roads and pavements are covered with snow, ice and slush anyway, I've started walking to and from work. This means that instead of 3 minutes of actively trying to avoid running down pedestrians and hitting or being hit by cars, I have 15 minutes of relatively trouble-free walking. This gives me the opportunity to think. Just think, not doing anything else. What a wonderful feeling!

On my way home from work at 6 a.m. this morning (yes, I'm totally out of sync with normal day cycle), I found myself passing a closed 7-eleven. Quite a few of them are open 24 hrs. I was quite amused by this when I first encountered one. But some, in the less busy areas of the city, are closed at night. As I passed its door, I caught myself feeling slightly irritated over the fact that they don't have a sign on the door announcing their opening hours, as every other store normally has.

I passed a woman, obviously on her way to work (and not homeward, like me). Now, here's a thing I find somewhat sad: Whenever I pass women walking alone in the streets and look at their faces, almost every single one of them don't look back. Instead they have a stiff mask and their eyes fixed on the ground some few yards in front of them. They often look a bit scared or nervous, too. I think this is sad, because the world (or life in the city, I don't know) has come to this: Women are generally so scared of the possibility that any man they meet could do them harm, that they don't dare to look anyone in the eye.

-Trav"wouldn't hurt a fly! No, wait, sorry...: Wouldn't hurt anything other than insects!"holt