The Quiet Earth

It was a lovely spring day today and I had a 9:00 AM meeting about the Sprockets children's film festival. I decided to get there on my mountain bike so I could get a few kilometers of open road under me. I thought I'd take a fifteen minute bike up to the theatre, then scoot back home or join Sheryl for a bite before helping her with a business project she had to finish. The ride up was a bit cool, but sunny with very quiet streets.

I'm a slow starter on weekend mornings whenever possible, so the early morning lack of hustle and bustle can be a bit of a surprise to me. It reminded me a tiny bit of a 1985 New Zealand film call The Quiet Earth, in which everyone has instantly vanished, except those in the process of dying. A great psychological drama with lots of spooky scenes of silent, empty cities with the "sole survivor" wandering around trying to piece things together.

In the end my planning meeting was over faster than expected, Sheryl was delayed and the weather was even more enticing. I decided to take a serendipitous route home and ended up on the paths the follow the Don River. I just kept going until Sheryl called to say she was ready. I rode over 40 km! (So sayeth Google Earth's Measure tool.) Next time I'm not going to wear tight, stuffy blue jeans. And I'm going to get my rusty bike chain oiled.

In other news, Chris' team lost their hockey championship game 5 - 0 yesterday. As is always said in such situations, getting to the finals was a victory in itself. They were second last in the season standings but played their hearts out in the playoffs. They were just out-gunned on the day. Chris played as well as I've seen him though, so I was a proud Dad.

Also, last night while Sheryl and I watched a mediocre black comedy about a mob lawyer scamming his boss (The Ice Harvest) the news broke that eight Toronto-area 'Bandito' bike gang members had been murdered on a farm west of the city. Of course these guys are all just businessmen who share an interest in motorcycles...

Listening to: Little Fluffy Clouds by The Orb from Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld.