A reminder from lockdown times.

Really the only downside to cycling to get groceries at the Allen Street Sobeys is the hill climb from my house to the crest of Upper Prince Street. As arduous cycling goes, it ain’t no Andean trek. But it’s a hill. And on a hot tired day, maybe that’s enough to be too much.

I thought I could play an end run around gravity tonight by sneakily cycling over the bridge to the Stratford Sobeys, benefiting both from the absence of the hill climb and from the delights of the “Extra” in that location.

‘Twas not meant to be, alas: I couldn’t figure out why the cycling was so sloggy-going on the way there. I was pulling a trailer, yes, but even with allowances there was a molasses quality to the ride.

It was only when I turned around and essentially coasted all the way home, and then consulted a topographic map, that I realized that Sobeys in Stratford is at 23 meters above sea level while the crest of the Upper Prince hill is only 17 metres. So Stratford Sobeys is atop a higher mountain.

Even that, and that it’s twice the distance from home, the Stratford Sobeys has one killer feature for the cyclist: almost all the route there is on dedicated cycle lanes (Hillsborough Bridge, MacKinnon Drive) or on streets with a marked cycleway (Water Street), whereas the ride up to Allen Street is a relative hellscape of parked cars backing up, squeezing through the needle of Upper Prince, and a tricky turn onto Allen Street.

We’ve got some work to do.

DNA Lounge in San Francisco reCOVIDopened this weekend:

I had wondered whether people would stil be skittish about being in crowds, and the answer to that is, NOPE. They were happy being absolutely packed in, sweating all over each other. Though all our staff are still wearing masks, I’d say that less than 1% of the customers were. No soft re-entry here: they have embraced the Full Florida.

Bike Friendly Communities is organizing a Celebration Bridge Ride for Saturday, June 26. Register in advance!

Beau Miles’ commute to work by kayak is one of the tales he relates in his book The Backyard Adventurer. He tells the same tale on film in The Commute: A four day paddle to work.

I’ve been unable to shake that quote paraphrasing George MacLeod, from bookbinder Rachel Hazell, “The thing about islands is there’s less space between Heaven and Earth.”, so I asked her permission to commit it to type and paper and she generously consented.

I used my daredevil printing skills to set the type the round; divine intervention, rather than careful planning, meant that, in 24 point Futura Regular, it fit perfectly:

Keeping the type in place was something of a dark art involving multiple quoins plus strategic slips of paper, and significant prayer.

When I realized that the resulting circle was about the same size as my letterpress cut of Prince Edward Island, I conjured up a red-and-black combination of the two, resulting in this:

I also printed a few outliers without the background of the Island, including this one, printed on handmade paper made by Catherine many many years ago, which I love:

Today is both Father’s Day and my father’s birthday; he would have turned 84 years old today.

I love you, Dad.

A late Saturday afternoon grocery run: Riverview Country Market for bulk laundry and hand soap, new potatoes, broccoli and Katlin’s salted caramel chocolates, then wine, flaxseed rye bread and vegan sausages from Founders’ Hall.

The new shared pathway from Park Street to Grafton was the connective tissue that made it all flow smoothly.

With the Hillsborough Bridge path ready for action, Olivia and I opted to cycle abroad for our Saturday salmon bagels today.

Longtime readers will recall my affinity for #vanlifers and their YouTube exploits. The pandemic forced everyone to ground, including the #vanlifers, and it’s been interesting to follow the paths their lives have taken without the ability to monetize their nomadicity.

Kaylee and Jordan, sobriquet The Nomadic Movement, have arguably made the most most interesting pivot, putting their converted school bus up on blocks and terraforming a back-to-the-land homestead in the hills of Boquete, Panama.

Along the way they formed a coffee company, in partnership with the local Buckle Tip Coffee, and their vlogging about that project has taught me a little about Panamanian coffee. Such that this morning, when I decided to try the new Coffee Plus shop on Great George Street (in the space formerly occupied by David’s Tea) and saw “Panama Boquete Pourover” on the coffee menu, I was particularly motivated to try it.

I was not disappointed.

This is not the ”hit me over the head with a rake” coffee of the Starbucks/Tim Hortons cinematic universe, it’s subtle, like a complex white wine. It’s offered in a beautiful service, in pleasant surroundings, by friendly people. A welcome addition to the Charlottetown coffee scene.