Friday morning: on the Yarra Trail there is a very steep hill leading west past the Golf Course of Silver Luxury Cars. I get up a bit of speed going down this hill; so when I saw a large white feather on the ground, I didn't stop for it. I thought about it all the way out to Burke Road and back, and as I rode up the slow incline back towards the hill, I saw three big white cockatoos cawing and fighting their way across the freeway.

The feather was still there. It was 20 cm long, edged faintly with yellow, completely intact with a transparent white shaft. I presented it to my son, who's six, and told him the birdy gave it to me for him. He answered, no, you found it. But really, what's the difference?


Saturday morning: a shortish ride for this time of year - the kid keeps waking early, eating into the pre-day-starting riding time - just an hour, up to the old Pentridge Prison (now housing; twisted if you ask me) and back, along the Merri. I like riding upstream first, then coming back just that bit faster with the fall of the land, moving with the water.

This morning, Sunday; the Kew Boulevarde on the bike I think of as the racehorse to my usual bike's trusty donkey. It's red, weights almost nothing, moves silently, gains speed frighteningly fast (my maxiumum speed is about 51 kmh, but it would go faster if I let it). I like the feeling of control I get on it, simply because it could so easily skitter out of control. The Boulevarde was full of the usual Sunday morning types; Sunday cyclists, packs of lycra boys. And for what might be the first time in 15 years I've been riding up there, a black man; surprising in his contrast to the pasty-skinned, brightly clothed middleaged men I usually see there. He was wearing a dark top and black shorts, too. And I thought, what a cruel joke God played on us, to make us so different from each other. It's asking for trouble, really.

riding behind some unfortunately dressed men (white shorts - erk - see through!) - I twigged to the appeal of the Lycra. superhero outfits, plain and simple.