I wanted to post something for Halloween but couldn't find anything so here's something frightening in its own right.
My Saturday visit to The Hometown was pretty crazy and I'm still a bit too lazy to go into all the details. I'll wait for the photos and write in bits and pieces. One thing I will say is that I rented a bike, something I will never do again. The bike was too small for me and hurt like hell to ride. Plus I looked ridiculous hunched over the handle bars with my knees coming up just under my chin. It was pure hell. I was almost in tears on the way back to return it. I seriously contemplated tossing into into a dumpster. In addition, drivers in St. Catharines do not understand the concept of sharing the road with a bike. I was nearly side-swiped by a car turning right and a guy on a motorcycle came straight at me without flinching. I spent the rest of the time navigating the sidewalks. Needless to say the experience stirred up a lot of anger, humiliation, and contempt for the city in general, emotions I didn't want to be dealing with at the time because they got in the way of other more productive emotions I might have had instead. There was a lot of yelling at drivers and women with tight perms who sure as hell know how to navigate a fastfood lineup. They will knock you down! Thank god for the tunnel underneath the highway. I stopped there twice to scream my guts out and release some tension.
I remember taking photos but am very uncertain about what I managed to get on film. I had to hussle like crazy (on what was essentially a big kid's mountain bike) in order to get to at least a few of the locations I had planned. As a result I really sped through the motions of a process I tend to take some time and care over. I feel disappointed but hopeful. I am often surprised by what gets through when I think I'm way off so I'll just have to wait and see. And even though the anger felt useless and annoying, it may have been what I needed at the time.