So, after living here for a year and riding a bike as my primary mode of transportation, you'd think I'd have had a few accidents. But so far I have escaped any kind of scrapes until last night. Yesterday we spent the day moving all of our furniture and household stuff into storage at our friend Sharelle's place so the next team can have it. Last night Sharelle had us over for a girls' night and I had noticed that we had forgotten to pack up our clothes hangers - those nice plastic ones from Ikea. I packed them up in a brown paper Ikea sack and clamped them on the back of my bike to take them over. It's a great way to haul things, generally. About three quarters of the way into town, I was crossing one of the main streets in front of the Lindvalls coffee factory. Right in the middle of the intersection, I hear paper ripping. I instinctively reach back behind me to try to stop whatever disaster that's about to strike. Attempt failed. 85 white plastic clothes hangers where strewn across a 5 lane road. I jumped off my bike and left it on the sidewalk while I ran out into the road. Needless to say, I was holding up traffic and probably providing some unusual entertainment. The most shocking part was that a Swedish girl actually stopped to help me toss them and kick them up onto the sidewalk. I was so flustered that I called Lindsey who was already in town for help. Then I had to collect all the hangers (which gave me the opportunity to count them) but had nothing to put them in until Lindsey arrived with grocery bags. When she arrived I was sitting on a little wall by the intersection with my bike beside me and hangers in the front basket, bungee-corded in the clamp on the back of my bike and gathered at my feet. So now our precious clothes hangers are safely stored at Sharelle's for the next stint team to have. I wonder if they will ever know the true value of those hangers for me and their history of being rescued from the middle of Kungsgatan.
