One big reason I’m taking a new job is to be back in bicycle commuting range of work. I think. But I’ve hardly been on a bike at all since July. Will it really be OK bicycling to the new job? I got out the bike this morning to go to the post office and from there to where I’ll be working. The post office isn’t on the way, so it was at least half again as far as my new commute. Along the way I went past the Christina-Goddard conservation area. An older man was walking across the street away from the conservation area, carrying a rake and a trash barrel. I stopped to talk to him about it. He has lived there for fifty years and has taken it on himself to keep the conservation area clean, cut undergrowth, plant trees, and so on He says there are fox and beaver in there, as well as raccoons, rabbits, and other suburban animals.
After a long chat (which was a welcome chance for me to catch my breath) I continued up to Winchester Street. As I got there I noticed little white things falling slowly through the air. I called to the next dog walker I saw, “Is it my imagination, or is it snowing?” Yes, he said, it was snowing.
I checked my watch as I went past my new workplace and continued to downtown Needham to get a size 4 circular needle at Black Sheep Knitting Company so I can start working on mittens. They seemed a little more urgent with snow in the air than they had earlier. When I left the store it was snowing pretty well. I couldn’t remember when I’ve bicycled in falling snow.
Here’s what the bags of raked leaves looked like: 
It’s just a fifteen minute bike ride from my new work to Black Sheep, very doable over a lunch hour. And that means it can’t be more than ten minutes by car.
The whole bike round trip must have added up to five times a one-way trip to work. I’m convinced I’ll enjoy doing it.