Remember those two old guys wisecracking from the balcony at the Muppets? Their names were Statler & Waldorf and they remind me of these old guys I pass often while riding. My wooded biking trail pops out onto a quiet roadway for about 1/4 mile, passing a row of houses. In front of one is a collection of old rusty things, a 1965-ish rusting Ford pickup that apparently still works because it moves from time to time, and another old flatbed kind of truck with a rusty snowplow. It never moves and it seems to be a storage place for Other Rusty Things. In-between the two vehicles are two of those old aluminum tube folding chairs with webbing. Almost always, there is an old guy in at least one of them. Let's call them Rusty and Rip for the sake of argument.
When I go flying by, Rusty and Rip always wave and smile, quite enthusiastically I might add, not just with NJ reserve. They do feel a little creepy to me, not for any good reason except they are old and there is a lot of rust around them. When did it become creepy for old people to sit and watch the world go by on a hot summer day?! I half expect them to raise scorecards over their heads one of these days as I go by. They are clearly interested in the only thing happening on their street - bikes going by - because their house is a long distance from their perch at the curb. I remember walking by a frat house one day in graduate school and some juvenile frat boys were being all frat-like and holding up scorecards as girls walked by. They thought it was great fun. I just walked by without looking, sure that my "8" would be humiliating.
Rusty and Rip are probably harmless. I'd love to get a picture of them doing their thing for my blog, but there's no way do it without them knowing. Maybe one of these days I'll stop and talk to them - satisfy my own curiosity... "Hey, mighty hot out here, eh? You guys in the rust business?" I make up explanations and past lives for them every time I go by. And all that passing back and forth I do, well, it's like we're getting to know one another.
When I go flying by, Rusty and Rip always wave and smile, quite enthusiastically I might add, not just with NJ reserve. They do feel a little creepy to me, not for any good reason except they are old and there is a lot of rust around them. When did it become creepy for old people to sit and watch the world go by on a hot summer day?! I half expect them to raise scorecards over their heads one of these days as I go by. They are clearly interested in the only thing happening on their street - bikes going by - because their house is a long distance from their perch at the curb. I remember walking by a frat house one day in graduate school and some juvenile frat boys were being all frat-like and holding up scorecards as girls walked by. They thought it was great fun. I just walked by without looking, sure that my "8" would be humiliating.
Rusty and Rip are probably harmless. I'd love to get a picture of them doing their thing for my blog, but there's no way do it without them knowing. Maybe one of these days I'll stop and talk to them - satisfy my own curiosity... "Hey, mighty hot out here, eh? You guys in the rust business?" I make up explanations and past lives for them every time I go by. And all that passing back and forth I do, well, it's like we're getting to know one another.