Living The Dream

4 November - Last night went out to an open-mic nite with Mark, very cool place and I met a couple of his Australian friends, also met a potential flatmate to fill the room that Takuji will be vacating at the end of the month (always at the end of the month). When I got home I also had a bit of a nice surprise - my BC ID had arrived, which means that I am eligible for sorting out my bike courier licence. The next morning I called in that I was going to be a little bit late and then headed over to City Hall to be issued with Licence Plate 149 - finally, after months of talking about it I am officially a bike courier. I haven't been issued with a nickname yet but 'Pedals' may have to do until I make my mark amongst the subculture.
It was raining pretty steadily until about 2 o'clock and I was completely saturated - I think it was even worse than yesterday. Because I was on a bike today I went out a bit further and had to rely on my map a bit, also had a few issues with my Blackberry which couldn't really cope with the wet and I had to rely on my despatcher to tell me each address I was to go to and I had to try to scrabble it down with my crappy pens (my bag is a little bit waterproof but not enough), I went through four of them today. I found the actual riding to be surprisingly easy and the past two days of being on foot helped me get the layout of the city but because I was on two wheels I had to negotiate the multitude of one way streets and even just getting to the other side of the road could be quite tricky. Certainly the hardest part of the job is planning the routes (which will come with time) and utilising the "elevator time" to do the paperwork Also had a flat tyre at one point and found out that the tyre pump that i'd purchased with my bike was missing the valve (had also left my spare at home, fool that I am) - luckily the bike shop where I bought it wasn't too far so I managed to get a replacement tyre and pump. The ten minute period where they replaced the flat was the longest break I had all day! Have got to work out some way of eating whilst i'm working - a collosal breakfast helps but it gets burned away pretty quickly. It was a pretty exhausting day all things considered it was quite excellent. I'm a bit worried once Old Man Winter starts to settle into the city but i'll just have to do what the others do and hope for the best. I know it's not a dream career but it has been a dream of mine to be a bicycle courier since I first read William Gibson's 'Virtual Light' a semi-seminal science fiction tale about a pair of stolen sunglasses and the courier who finds them ... and now I am.