So I am cruising slowly along the milk route to the hospital in the dark before six in the morning. A bicyclist runs a red light and I almost soak his $500 designer bicycle outfit in his own blood. And so naturally he gives me the finger.
This, to me, is a very typical Portland citizen today. Young, rich, with the aggressive moral authority of someone who believes that, because they ride a bike and don't pollute the earth, traffic laws do not apply to them.
This is a far, far cry from 1984, when I was showing my NY agent around NW Portland and she told me, "Charles, this is just the way Greenwich Village used to be. Hope it never changes."
R.I.P.
