18 July 2005

since when am i an activist?

i'm lots of things, social organizer, mom, party grrrrl, artist, wife, slut, glitter queen .... but who'd a thunk i'd become a cycling activist? this past weekend makes it official though. i'm a bike bug, a two-wheel instigator, a vehement velocipedist.

here i was - 8:45am on a Saturday - parking my bike in a metered spot in the busy Byward Market. within minutes my husband, daughter and I are confronted by two street embassadors, 3 angry drivers, a bylaw officer and a curious CBC radio reporter. we stood our ground. i did most of the talking and in the end we got a second bylaw parking cop acknowldging that the law was on our side and the protest could go on all day if we liked. yeee haw! the parking meter par-tay was a success. a total of 5 more cyclists showed up along with Radio Canada radio and TV interviewers. we stood in the York Street parking lot and planned our next cycling events: Car Free Day, the Beach Parade, Pride Parade and the next parking meter party. More info on that - and where to join all the fun is here.

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