12 January 2015

Weekly Ramble



This is a common sight at my work. There are cable locks, and U-locks, on fences and racks all over the parking garage. They are stiff, and the plastic casing on the cables is weather-faded and cracking. There are layers of dust and grime on the locks from years of neglect. Some of these locks have been there longer than I have been commuting by bike.

In the years that I have commuted, I have never seen a bicycle locked up using these locks. I always wonder why they are abandoned? Are they the cast-off results of a failed new year's resolution or bike month challenge? Were the keys lost, or combinations forgotten? Did the owner ride his or her bike to work one day, only to decide that the effort was not worth the reward. Putting the bike away in the garage or shed, forgotten and unused as the locks they left behind?  The answer may never be known.

I wonder why the locks are not cut off. It is easily apparent by the dust that the locks have not been touched in years.

Perhaps one day when I go out to head home, the locks will be perfoming their intended function by securing bikes. Or the locks may be gone, leaving me to speculate if the owner finally retrived their lock, or the owner of the garage finally got tired of the locks decorating the fences and cut them off.

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