On Birthdays and Carding, and a bit of Biking, too!
Today I learned an interesting thing about New Hampshire. The Live Free or Die state seems to have a strange law on its books in which anyone present during the sale of alcohol can be asked for ID proving they are over 21. I experienced this today while getting groceries and a sampler case of Woodchuck (amusingly called ‘Cluster “Chuck”’). Bojana slipped into view as the cashier asked me for ID (yes, me. I got carded. It’s their policy, it seems), and the cashier asked “Is she with you?” When Bojana nodded, the cashier asked for her proof of majority too. Of course she didn’t have it on her, and we held up the line while she went back to get her purse from the van.
Upon sighting my cocked eyebrow, the cashier explained the policy, to which I shrugged but accepted, only voicing one of the myriad things that bounced around in my head. “So,” I said, “Were it (ed: yes, yes, I said were it. Get over it!) my kids and I alone, would this have been a problem?” The cashier shrugged.
Bojana came back, showed her ID, and we left with our cider. I began a bit of a rant about such a system, but Bojana smiled it off and said, “Hey, I got carded on my Xity-Xth birthday! That actually kinda feels pretty cool!” I could only agree with her.
Research fail! This is the Pemigewasset River, which features as a roadblock to my main character in my WIP. But look at it! It’s at most 2 ft deep! She could just wade across. I guess that’s yet something else to fix in the next draft.
So yeah, it’s Boj’s birthday today! Woo! Married to an Xity-X year-old! That’s actually what we’re doing here in New Hampshire. Her birthday coincides nicely with Thanksgiving, and we both like climbing mountains and looking at foliage and the beauty displayed by the Appalachian mountains, notably the Green and White variety, and so we make a point of coming down to either Vermont or New Hampshire to spend the long weekend climbing and taking in local cheeses and beers and whatnot. On our hike today, she even brought up the idea of spending a month or two of retirement life each year in a rented cottage in the Greens so we could get our hike and bike on as much as we wanted. Retirement’s a damn long way off, though.
Hiking near Newfound Lake (yes, we pronounced it like Newfoundland)
Present-wise, it’s been a little tough for her this year, as while I have told her what I’m getting her, we haven’t had the time to sit at the computer together for the ten minutes it’d take to order exactly what she wants (What she wants is a set of Dill Pickle Bags but I want to make sure I get the right ones, of course. 2015 promises to be the year of randonneuring). The kids, in the excitement and rush of getting out the door and on the road to NH left their present for her at home. Doh. And by “the kids”, of course I mean me. If you must know, the “kid present” is Frostbike, though I agree that it’s preaching to the choir, as Bojana is a dedicated winter cyclist.
As an aside, I described to her my plan for winter biking a couple of days ago (I’ve been looking for a use case for the Rocky Mountain Metro that’s been hanging, lonely, in the garage since I bought the Opus. It involves biking to the Kanata Town Centre (2 km), then hopping on the 96 to my new office) and she gave me a sceptical look. “You don’t like being outside when it’s cold,” she said. “You realize winter biking means being outside in the cold, right? And then being on a bus wearing too much clothing. Right? Are you sure this is something you want to do?” While she has a point, I do want to follow in her footsteps and I think I can hack it. It’s only two kilometres, after all. Two cold, cold, kilometres…
So anyway, Happy Birthday Boj! Woo!