Friday, July 10, 2009

National Feline Radio

As I've transitioned away from the car and to the bike for the vast majority of my around-town travel, the one thing I miss most is having the radio on in the background. No more KCSM (the local jazz station), no more KQED (the NPR station), no more switching to and away from KDFC wishing it were a more interesting classical station. I particularly miss KQED, as it was my primary news source aside from the Economist.

Coming back from art camp on the tandem today, what I got instead was Nimue vocalizing in what sounded like a reporter-style cadence, except that every word was "meow". After I asked, she explained that it was "National Feline Radio" and that the story was about a 1000-cat demonstration. Apparently the cats are clamoring to have all of the people transferred to China, so that full kitty liberty can be achieved. Things I would never have known had I been driving the car.

This was all much more entertaining, though just as distracting, as the commentary on the way into camp this morning, when she deemed herself "Little Peep" and me "Big Peep". Little Peep started out making little high-pitched squeaky peeps every time a car went by. After Little Peep decided that she was afraid of cars, the gentle peep squeaks turned into shrill peep shrieks. This was all quite disconcerting as I tried to wend our way through morning commute traffic; I finally had to lay down the law and threaten to stop the mobile coop if the Peep didn't chill out.

Chad is the Rooster, by the way.

As entertaining as this all is, I still yearn for a handlebar mounted bike stereo, for which plans are fomenting in the Rooster's brain. Car-less transportation bliss will yet be achieved.

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