Day 228: biking in Brooklyn.

Today my new friend Cambria, who has been my amazing personal New York guide over the last couple of days, took me biking in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Hipsters on bikes in Williamsburg are so ubiquitous, it's no wonder the whole phenomenon has earned a somewhat cliched rep (as Cambria pointed out, some New Yorkers like to hate on hipsters). But there's a reason so many Billburg kids take the two-wheeled approach to transport: it's fuckin fun. Brooklyn, from my first look, boasts some really pretty parks and nice leafy avenues along which it is awesome to ride. Today was a beautiful sunny day with a light and pleasant breeze to cool us as we pedaled happily around. Our travels took us to a flea market where I bought bangles and brooches, down by the water where we took in those famous views of Manhattan across the river, and then along the main drag which was littered with interesting stores and thronging with the relaxed and happy hip. It was a great day. Even my stepping up to my ankle in freshly laid wet cement didn't get me down. In fact it was a hilarious and crazy experience. And there were two good natured and helpful mechanics across the road in their yard who promptly assisted me in hosing the concrete off my shoe. Beautiful. But that's something I am noticing with New Yorkers, or many of them. They are good natured and helpful. They happily and naturally talk to people they don't know, and assist them if they can. Bizzarely, for a city this size, they seem to be more trusting of each other than maybe people are in some smaller places. I mean, even the bike I was riding we borrowed off a friend of Cambria's friend who didn't know us from Jack, and the bike turned out to belong to his flat-mate. They had no idea who we actually were, but they were still happy to lend their bike. Nice. Kind of like Brooklyn from what I could tell; nice and relaxed and open to whatever.