Darn, the snail lady was working in her garden today! Her normal day is Monday. ...and I adjust my blading route that day.

Who is the snail lady? Well, she's this older lady with an absolutely fabulous streetside flower garden. For her, it acts as a buffer from the traffic noise; for me and others passing by, it is a beautiful slice of seasonal color in an otherwise barren block dominated by block walls and dry lots.

...but one of the reasons it looks so nice is she hand-picks the snails off the plants every Monday. ...and throws them into the street. Well, not exactly into the street; she doesn't quite make the traffic lanes, but she quite nicely blankets the bike lane. ...the one I blade in!

Yep, around the corner at full tilt, cutting hard against the asphalt and making sure I'm in the bike lane so I'm at least in compliance with the law... Right into a minefield of snail shells. ...and snail entrails.

Man! I tell you, there's nothing like knowing you are crunching things under your wheels. ...and throwing bits of snail guts here and there. ...and wondering if there's a rock or two mixed in there from the normal traffic action.

That's why I often take an alternate route on Mondays: better to just avoid the entire thing and let the street sweeper deal with it Tuesday morning.

...and we're not talking five or ten snails here folks, closer to fifty or so concentrated in an are three feet wide by maybe ten. Yep. Time to slow down and smell some different flowers once again...