Copenhagen is notorious for its bike culture.
That's an indisputable fact. I traded in my honda CRV for a single-speed bike and bike a minimum of a half-hour per day (often, far more) along bike-highways. Rush hour feels like the Tour de France, and I tailor my wardrobe choices to my daily commute. Biking home from a bar at 4 in the morning, I'm still accompanied by hundreds of fellow cyclists -but that may also be largely due to the fact that I haven't seen a single person in this city over the age of 35 (ok, that may be a minor exaggeration, but this is undoubtedly a youngster's town), and the city never sleeps.
Yet I still can't wrap my head around how Copenhagen, of all places, decided to adopt the uncovered bicycle as its transportation of choice.
It rains here everyday. Without fail. Usually when my buttcheeks touch bike saddle, that's when it starts to downpour. Back home, no one leaves their house when it drizzles. Here, even when it's a flat-out monsoon, no one even grabs an umbrella (no joke, it's so windy here, umbrellas are rendered useless).
And yet, while I show up to the office looking like a wet dog with my bangs plastered to my forehead and my mascara dripping down my face, everyone else is perfectly dry, impeccably dressed, make-up in place, with their hair perfectly coiffed. You would never know that everyone trucked to work on two wheels through the rain. It's unbelievable. I'm determined to learn the secret, or be shunned for being the biggest disaster in all of Copenhagen.
I was let in on one biking secret just the other day...
As it turns out, the secret to keeping your tailored, stylish wardrobe dry is waterproof pants, or, as my Irish friend Ross calls them, "plastic trousers". Cute!
Put plastic trousers on my birthday wishlist. And add bike fenders while you're at it, please?
I don't know how plastic pants are going to keep me looking as deadly fashionable as the rest of the population here (once I take them off, of course), but maybe it'll be a good start.
Things I'm getting used to:
1. Biking in the Rain
As aforementioned
2. Getting lost while biking in the rain
I absolutely can't get my bearings in this city. I thought I had a bad sense of direction before...
3. Line-drying my clothes
I told a friend of mine I'd never line-dried clothing before. His jaw dropped "you mean, everyone in the US tumble dries? But it's so expensive! And is so bad for the environment." I mean... yeah. Isn't that America? We pay for convenience. So I line dried my clothes for the first time here, on the first really sunny day I'd seen since I got here. It was surprisingly relaxing. I even took photos.
Yet, unsurprisingly, though it was sunny when I hung my clothes out to dry, I left for the day, and rode back home in the pouring rain later that evening to soaked clothes.
got it!!
ReplyDeleteloved the editorial style and background illustration!
why not put on your makeup when you arrive?
if it is raining that badly, everyone else's visibility must be poor so they wil not be shocked by your naked eyes!
and as for those plastic trousers...i think you had betrer find them locally - not too much call for them in summertime San Diego!
I meant to pack you a copy of your 209 Viewpoint editorial on the wimpy LA people's response to rainy days! Prophetic!!
Love Momo*
I recognize some of them clothes. Regardless of your state when you arrive at the office, I am sure you look markedly better than anyone else in the room. The whole Anglo thing is so passe. Let's get some Real beauty in the mix, matted bangs and runny mascara or no. Sheesh. Let's race in the rain. No fenders, though. And, no plastic pants. We would look too much like extras from Blade Runner.
ReplyDeletePS - umbrellas are for babies, anywhay. Rain falling directly upon you is one of the loveliest feelings, and the amount of Southern Californians who eschew it baffles me.