On my ride home from CERN tonight, I encountered a large number of cyclists (this is at around 20h15, mind you) taking over the evening commute into Genève Centre. Not knowing what this manifestation was, I did the only sensible thing I could do and joined their ranks. I biked up alongside a man and asked him “C’est quoi ça?” To my confusion and amusement, he responded with “quoi ça!” (For those who don’t get it, “c’est” is pronounced very much like the English word “say.” This guy was making an English joke out of a french sentence.) He then went on to explain that this was called Critical Mass. That didnt clarify much for me at the time so I just rolled with it (ha...get it?), but when I got home I researched it and discovered more about this worldwide social movement. To learn more, as I did, refer to en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_Mass_(cycling). To top it all off, the man then asked me if my native language was German. Im not sure what I’m doing when I speak French, but apparently my accent is hard to pin down; this is at least the third time that Ive lured someone away from my American scent. For your entertainment, Geneva Critical Mass! *Mom, please overlook the fact that it is dark, there are trams, cars, and buses going by, I’m biking one-handed while recording with the other, and that some guy epically wipes out in front of me at 1:29. Take solace in the fact that Im using my lights and wearing a helmet.
Posted on: Fri, 28 Mar 2014 20:45:44 +0000
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