First things first, walked to a bike shop on the corner of my block and rented a sweet cruiser for 10 euro a day, which seems totally reasonable to me. I pumped up the tires, got some advice from the shop manager, and rolled out. Pretty quickly I almost got taken down by a tram rail, so I’ve been more careful about those things. I rode towards the city centre and kept following wherever the bike paths took me. I quickly got a good feeling for the riding, and am very impressed by the orderliness and utter chaos of the whole system. It’s nice to ride among others who can appreciate and follow the rules, cars included.
So I rode around pretty much the whole city center, and decided to stop for a pineapple juice. It was nice to rest the legs, and I sat down next to a few Brits who live in the country outside of Manchester. They were a strange bunch, but nice to talk to. The girl in the group was missing at least 6 teeth, but they were all very friendly. I packed up and hit the streets again, riding around town a bit before I stopped at my favorite new fast falafel joint close to the hotel - Moaz.
Having munched down, I made it home in a bit of rain, and within an hour Jasper, my bandmate from Brim Liski came to meet me for dinner. It was nice to meet in person, and we had a good meal at a local pub. Jasper knew people that worked there and he helped with the ordering process.
We ate and drank a beer, and then Jasper drove us back to his apartment in a village 15 minutes down the highway. He had a nice place with his very nice girlfriend of 4 years, Lenneke (like Monica, with an L), and we shared a bunch of our recent productions with each other. He’s a great producer across a bunch of different styles, and it was cool to talk about our different influences and musical tastes. We chilled for a couple hours, drank tea, and then he brought me back to the hotel around midnight.
