Reduction in oil consumption, redux

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

Okay. So, $3/gallon is where I draw the line. I have a smallish car already, and when the weather is nice I ride a motorcycle, so I am not a gas guzzler to start off with.
However, I lived through the 73 embargo in California, and remember how bad it was then.
So, since I now live on Long Island, a place not known for it's particular kindness to alternative transport, I thought I should see how I can do.
On paper, the busses looked easy enough. It would take a little more time but for the cost of 1 gallon of gas, round trip transportation seemed like a deal.
Of course, I did not count on the culture of abuse the Suffolk County Surface Transportation (ummm, like there is a sub-surface transportation, or above ground transportation!) employees can dish out. This is NY. I expect rude. Hell, I relish rude. I like a good rude. A good rude can get you in the right frame of mind for the day. I did not count on slippery seats combined with jackrabbit starts and stops which send everything flying.
Oh-My-God.
I felt like I had been beaten when I got to work.
This was so different from my previous experiences with mass transit in NYC and on Long Island Railroad. That was relaxing. This was terror.
Still, it was the first day... maybe it was just a fluke?
Nope.
One week into it, same thing.
Although I am quite happy with the financial part of it, and my ass is learning to grip the seat.
So tonight, grocery shopping... gas free... bicycle.
One asshole threw a beer bottle at me. Possibly he did not see me there. I mean, I had my orange reflective vest on, a strobe on the back of my helmet, a flashing red tail light, a relatively bright head light and all the reflectors you have on your standard one-year-old bike.
Yeah, he was too drunk to notice.
Then there was the asswipe who tried to run me off the road. And just to make sure I was okay, he came back around the block, right up behind me again, honked when he was behind me, continued all the way around me and yelled, I think, "Faggot" as he went by.
Odd.
I am not. But how could he tell?

So, am I discouraged? No, not yet.

[NMMNG]

1. Sounds downright scary

I'd not go out for a repeat performance, but then I'm likely less adventurous than you having grown up in small-town New England and never ventured beyond small cities (no more than 42,000). Even when I recently tried bike riding again after a 20 year hiatus I never ventured outside of my neighborhood. I'd certainly not go into town. :scared:

And the "faggot" thing? That's the catch-all insult small-minded jagoffs like to hurl at people to get laughs from their friends, who no doubt have the same mentalities they do. It wouldn't have mattered if you were wearing a black leather jacket and work boots or pumps and a feather boa. That jerk would still have gotten his jollies the same way. :eyes: