WWW January 19, 2011

You have a bicycle. You’d like a new one. But you’ll need a little more cash than you’ve got to buy that Peugot you’ve been eyeing. You’ll also need the space that your rickety old Raleigh takes up, the one you decided was a good idea to paint rainbow from top to bottom. (In your defense, you were the flashiest dyke on a bike in the pride parade).

Geneviève Bujold rides a bike.

You don’t really know how to disassemble the thing, so eBay-ing it to a distant location is out of the question. And you’d rather not hassle it around town trying to get $5 for parts from local bike shops. No, you want someone to love it as much as you did. You want someone to really appreciate the sentimental value you’ve spent the last couple of years pedaling into this gem. You also don’t want to get out of your pajamas, so you’d prefer them to come to your house and get it from you. Welcome to the future, ladies. Craigslist it! You put it up for sale on craigslist. And your phone is ringing off the hook. You had no idea that the common thread between you and the fabulous queens of your town is rainbow glitter anything. So the bidding begins. As do the visitors and strangers asking you questions you’ve never even thought existed about a bicycle. Some potential buyers are so skeptical, you wonder if they were actually in the market for a glittery rainbow-painted cruiser or if they skeptically respond to craigslist ads around town for sadistic fun.

You finally sell it to a lovely man named Hillary who has his partner drive home so he can ride his new shimmering whip across town and you are finally content that you have done the right thing. But this is not the point. The point is that selling things on craigslist is weird, y’all. I had my car up for sale this past week and the first guy who looked at it arrived, looked at it for a minute or so and said nothing until the “Thank you for your time” before he walked away. Strange, my lady friends. Strange. After that I started having people meet me in the grocery store parking lot, Which is a whole different Weird Wednesday.

We all have or know of at least one, so what are your weird craigslist experiences? Weird Wednesdays lives for these things. Happy humpin’.