Virtual Canuck

This is not an April Fools joke, but a true story of near calamity.

Yesterday, I was pedaling my bike along Jasper Avenue, Edmonton’s main downtown street, on my usual commute home from work. I was listening to an album of Bach Organ concertos – the ones with the big rolling bass lines, when I felt a tug at my ear and an abrupt end to the concerto. Of course, I immediately slammed on the brakes and retrieved the cord that was dangling from my ear phones- sans MP3 player.

I should explain that my Creative Zen MP3 player is a few years old, and one with the large 20Gig drive, so its not tiny. Thus, when is inserted in addition to the compulsory Canadian Toque in a ski jacket pocket, there is very little room to spare. In fact, so little that an extra push on the pedals (Bach’s fault) expelled my player from my pocket to the road!!

Now for those who don’t know 20Gigs of hard drive holds a lot of music- like over 250 albums (all that I own, that I like to listen too) plus novels, podcasts, interview transcripts and assorted forgotten files from 3 years of use. Thus, I was chagrined at the prospect of losing both my player and its contents.

As I screeched to a stop and peered apprehensivly around I spied my MP3 on the pavement – but with a 70 passenger Edmonton Transit System bus bearing down on it’s hapless resting spot in the middle of the road. No time to scream, say a Hail Mary or do much else than give a mournful look of supplication to the driver and my Player disappeared under the bumper. An agonizing wait, then a rush as the big bus sped by and there it was – intact and waiting my retrieval.

I was thrilled. My player was safe! it had been spared, like a family in a Chevy Chase movie, by squeezing itself between the wheels and acting with cool self composure. Even better its leather case had protected it and I caught the end of the concerto when I plugged the ear phone back in.

Ahhh… Bliss!!! or as Jony Mitchell would say “you don’t know what you got ’til it’s (almost) gone.