I bike with a retired group of riders. It is the Wednesday ride, one of two days in the week I can get away for a few hours--if lucky. For the most part it is an odd group of riders, two retired teachers, one retired doctor and me. Sometimes we are joined by the husband of one of the teachers or an outside group of retired professionals who are also, former bike racers in their youth. All are Jews save me.
Why that's brought up is because one of those that joins us on occasion, one of the former bike racers and regards himself as progressive, hates Germans. He hates them so much he wants to exterminate all Germans. Not just Nazis, but ALL GERMANS. Besides that quirk, he enjoys talking about how much he has, his stuff, his money, on and on to ad-nausea. None in our group like him, BUT he's a Jew. And for some reason, I cannot understand, we have to sit with him when he is there.
I ignore him for the most part and once he found out I was of German decent and not a Jew, he has, for the most part, kept his mouth shut about exterminating Germans. One of the teachers in our group enjoys baiting him for comments on killing Germans. Movies, books, anything presently public that concerns Germans, the teacher brings up to entice him into his rabid behavior.
It's uncomfortable. First, they are all Jews and I'm not. And I'm of German decent and queer. The funny thing is, none of them have a problem about the queer part and none of them are particularly religious, most being atheist.
So, it is a very odd group of retired riders to say the least. But now there is a new problem to contend with. The teacher in our group, Mickey, who enjoys baiting the German hater, also likes to tell everyone what they should do or not do, what they should wear or buy, what movies they should watch and what books they should read. It's annoying and he has now fixated on my using my e-reader to read the New York Times when we are at our rest stop, The Corner Bakery. I bring it with me of late and am really enjoy sitting outside with coffee and roll, reading. I also get in the conversation from time to time but not a lot. The reason being is they enjoy talking about films, travel, and dining, none of which I can do because of Wally's condition. We use to do all those things but not now. I'm okay with it, doesn't bother me but one day I thought, why not read, like Wally and I did when we traveled. The first thing we would do in the morning when on vacation would be to find a cafe nearby and the local newspaper. We would buy a couple of papers, if they had more than one newspaper to read, and sit with our coffee and breakfast with a good read. It was for us one of the best parts of the day. Something we both enjoyed.
If I'm lucky, I can get away for a few hours on Wednesday to ride with the group and Saturday to ride with Juanster, when he can get away himself. Those are the two days I have for a little R&R. As it turned out yesterday, I wasn't able because Wally's catheter had plugged up the day before and we spent the night in emergency to replace it.
Of course I'm going to continue reading and avoiding the, Kill All Germans guy, but how petty can you get. And this from educated seniors.
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