I've smelt fire and I've seen rain...

...and now I've seen flooding in July.  At the risk of wearing out yet another line, it's almost like the climate changed.  After enjoyable delays on Wednesday, yesterday I rode down to the Connecticut River to witness first, err, eye the water levels after news of them had found its way even down my dead end well off the information super highway bypass.  Yup, there was a lot of water.  Certainly, there has been more, such as the 1938 flood when a hurricane's rain fell on already saturated ground, but that was considered a freak combination of events, an outlier, while this week's high water unfortunately seems a predictable outcome.  It's all that sweating.

Not that I'm a huge fan of some experiences sharing the road with cars, 

I'm not quite ready to swap them for fish.

Yup, yup, rivers in New England flood.  But the mid July timing is a little off-putting, especially if you're a farmer who was drawn to the silt enriched river valley which has become the river lagoon at a time when crops are usually high and dry.  I'd always heard about climate change drought's potential for food insecurity issues, but too much water could easily have the same outcome.  Even if the crops survive this dousing, that's river floodwater, which means untreated untreated effluent, which means raw sewage, which means oh shite!

Fields of Plenty of Poop

So, human beings aren't in change of the weather, but we sure can have a frightful impact.  But it also seems some people and even whole places are starting to get it, and they're trying make that impact a little less frightening.  This morning I heard a BBC report that France is instituting a financial incentive to repair worn or damaged clothing, and that this is an extension of their already existing earlier push to repair damaged electronics as an alternative to disposal.  President Macron refers to the concept as a Circular Economy, although likely in more chic French.  Marketing matters and I truly appreciate the catch of that phrase and I hope it catches on, even if it means a bit more competition for the old bikes I love!

And speaking of old bikes, one of my happy distractions on Wednesday was a visit to friends at Hampshire Bicycle Exchange, a local business that while selling some new equipment chooses to deal with the often increased hassle and less profit of used bikes and parts.  I know, shocking I like them, and on Wednesday I learned another reason to appreciate their business model.  While chatting with newer employee and former neighbor down the street, Doug, I learned they were just now open again this week after their annual closure the week of July 4th!  Wow, a bike shop that closes during peak season to let their employees enjoy some of the better weather for riding! How, well, for lack a better term, French!

HBE's collection now includes two bikes

 from one the bike industry individuals I hold in high regard.

They're also having a run of frames produced by friend Matt Gaspar 

in Conway, MA, last I heard!