Again, it is snowing. Well, it is not really bad, but still, some of it remains on the ground. In the morning, shortly after eight, I am on my way from Riemerling to the IHK, which is located between Balanstrasse and Rosenheimerstrasse in Munich. In the districts outside the city centre, the cyclist’s paths are more or less well serviced. As soon as you get to Munich, which calls itself the “biker’s home”, matters deteriorate dramatically. But the biker will not let himself be deterred by this. After all, we have spiked tyres, don’t we? And since I started early, it will not matter all that much if it takes a little longer.
A young and obese gentleman is standing at a crossing where the traffic light is red. Fag between his lips. He sounds between friendly and concerned as he asks the biker if it isn’t dangerous to ride a bike in this weather. The biker thinks by himself: maybe it is more dangerous to smoke and have this kind of figure. But all he does is mention his spikes and say it is really not so bad.
Then he arrives at the IHK. The appointment goes well. An hour later, he has the next appointment in downtown Munich, at the Thierschstrasse. Near the Deutsches Museum, however, no winter service seems to have taken place at any time. Well – there you have the Biker’s Home. But the next appointment, too, went well.
The next stop is near the Gasteig. Two young students are waiting for me at the Osteria. The Osteria used to be the Café Atlas – for several years, I considered it my “City Office”. You can eat well, the price-performance ratio is ok. But now it is noisy and consequently no longer a good place to consider your city office.
One, two, three – now all my appointments are over. I ride back home for my fourth appointment. It is my intension to arrive at 2.30 p.m. Unterhaching is the final destination, the way there is on Balanstrasse. Basically, they have a cyclist’s path on this route. But it turns out there is snow all over it and the snow ploughs added to it by shoving the snow from the street onto the cyclist’s path, as well. You definitely cannot use it. The pedestrians’ paths, too, are totally covered with snow. We are talking more than 90 % of the way.
And the street is not really an attractive alternative. Here is what the biker thinks: whenever I forget to free the pedestrians’ path in front of my own house from snow, there is no end to complaints. But in the Capital of Bavaria, nobody is interested. Strange.
It looks like 2.30 p.m. might be a stiff goal. So I increase my speed. As soon as I reach the outskirts, the cyclists’ paths are free from snow. Consequently, I arrive halfway on time. I am five minutes late for my next meeting.
RMD
(Translated by EG)
P.S.
This was a short summary of my day today. The appointments, however, all went very well.
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