>>Bike trailer? Not quite sure, can't drive on the road in most places where I need to go to reach a shop (this is America, there's no little shop on the corner anymore, not by a dozen corners), and the sidewalks are too zig-zaggy for four wheels; at least one wheel of the trailer would bump into something and even if I tied everything up, there would be some damage when it rolls over. Just too impractical here. And nearly impossible to press the button for the pedestrian light (but at least these buttons work here - in Charlottesville barely a half did), because the sidewalk goes around the pole, not to the pole, so on every major corner I have to unmount, take the extra step to the side, press the button, mount, be ready...
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>>May as well get the tote bags. I think I can still handle 10kg on each side of the handlebars :).
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>What are you doing pressing the pedestrian light button if you are on a bike? You cross the intersection with the vehicles on the traffic light, not with pedestrians...
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>Oh yeah, we 'quit smoking' here, not 'lost smoking.' :o) Or do you feel like you lost something in the process? :o)

There was just something in the paper the other day about the Chicago PD clamping down on bicyclists going through red lights. The law is they are supposed to follow the same signals as motorists but bikes going through is practically universal behavior if it's clear in both directions on the cross street.

They could really clean up on fines collected just from bicycle messengers. Those guys are a breed apart. They don't give an inch even to cabs and buses, which are driven by the most aggressive drivers in the known universe. (Yes, I think most of them do wear helmets -- and they need them!)