Seriously, y’all. If you ever commute by bike in Portland, rearrange your route so that on the last Friday of every month you go over either the Hawthorne or Steel bridges between 7 and 9 am. Your reward will be free coffee, donuts, bananas, treats, sometimes even bacon or oatmeal–whatever the lovely Shift volunteers have cooked up for the week.
(donuts? Yes please!:)
It’s not only the free treats that make it lovely, of course. If you have time (or a forgiving boss), it’s super fun to hang around for a while and chat. Everyone’s doing their own different thing and ultimately going their own separate way, but the impromptu conversations and friendliness that break up an otherwise normal commute are priceless. Especially when you come month after month and start seeing the same faces. It’s just one more layer to the city you live in, one more way to connect with the people around you who might otherwise be strangers.
(I know I can count on these lovely people, for example, for at least a once-a-month, two-hour chat:)
Today was a wee bit chilly–especially once you stopped moving–but that just made the people who hung out even more awesome for being there.We sang warmth-inspired songs (sadly, “I’m a little [warm] teapot” was about the best I could come up with), hopped from foot to foot to keep our toes from going numb, and reveled in the fact that though it was windy, at least it wasn’t raining.
I was glad once again that I’d opted to make gluten-free muffins instead of just vegan–every time now that I think of being lazy/cheap and using the wheat flour, I remember the people who have been so psyched to have a celiac-friendly option. And then I figure I can’t disappoint. I may have inadvertently become the gluten-free Steel Bridge muffin lady. Which is okay with me.
So yeah. Come on down. Drink some coffee. Munch on a donut or a muffin, wave at the Amtrak train coming into Portland, and shoot the shit with some fellow commuters. Take a banana to go. Get to work in a good mood. It’s lovely.
Ah, BonB! I was heavily involved years ago, but haven’t been down in at least a year. I’m one of those people who don’t have to commute to downtown and I don’t always have to be to work early on Friday. So it’s an extra effort to go out of my way. Sometime soon, though.
Yeah! It’s only gonna get nicer out there in the mornings–totally worth the extra effort! Come play! :)