Hire bikes are a good idea. There’s one when you need it, you don’t have to store it at home, and someone else gets the pleasure of owning a bicycle in a small flat.
You do still have to get comfortable on it. Someone taller may have had it before you. The handlebars feel a little different. There’s a bag to put somewhere. A journey that looked straightforward on your phone begins with a few practical adjustments.
That’s what this photograph brings to mind. A bike, a busy pavement and the brief business of getting ready to go.
The rider sits apart from the rows of parked bikes on the right. Her front wheel turns towards the camera, breaking the pattern of wheels and baskets behind her. People pass in both directions, and the street opens out beyond them.
It’s a large setting for an ordinary activity. The building on the left extends out of the frame, and there’s a generous amount of sky above the shops and theatre. Down at pavement level, everyone is getting on with something considerably less grand.
I like that about cities. A building can have columns, elaborate stonework and a century of history, while outside somebody is trying to work out where to put their shopping.
The bike fits into that everyday business. It’s transport, with a basket and a substantial frame, borrowed for whatever distance needs covering. There’s no special cycling outfit involved. You can get on in the clothes you were already wearing and hope the saddle agrees with them.
The photograph works through that mixture of scale and movement. The parked bikes form a dense row, while the rider has space around her. The pedestrians bring different directions into the frame. Strong sunlight picks out the pale basket and throws the bike’s shadow across the paving.
Those details give the picture its shape without needing much of a story attached. Whether she has just arrived or is about to leave, the pause belongs quite naturally to the street.
There are plenty of these small intervals in a day out. Getting a bag onto your shoulder. Finding your ticket before reaching the barrier. Stopping to establish which way the map is facing. They don’t usually deserve much thought, unless you’re the person behind someone doing them.
A bike adds a few more things to arrange, but at least there’s the prospect of sitting down while travelling. That’s a reasonable incentive after a bit of walking.
And the parked row suggests plenty of other journeys still to come. Some of the bikes will go a few streets; others may go much further. For now, they’re taking up a fair amount of pavement.
The basket is a useful touch. You can have every intention of travelling light and still come back with something you hadn’t planned to carry.