Riding my bike west out of East Vancouver Saturday afternoon (October 26), I had to pull over abruptly to let off a hitchhiker I’d unknowingly picked up along the way.

When I slowed down a bit, the tiny red blur I noticed on the sidewall of my front tire resolved into a rather dizzy (I imagined) ladybug.

I wasn’t surprised.

While ladybugs are perfectly capable of flying they often save energy by walking and occasionally (in my previous experience) by hitching rides with cyclists.

Was the Ladybug dizzy or just “tired” after its bike ride?

Coming up on the sidewalk, on the northeast corner of Manitoba Street and West 8th Avenue, I propped my front wheel against the low concrete feature of an office building’s plaza entrance.

I then gently rotated the wheel until the ladybug was level with the concrete.

When it was conveniently lined up, the ladybug—with some encouragement from my gloved hand—alighted onto the plinth with no more fuss than a fairground attendee exiting a Ferris wheel ride.

No sooner had the spotted beetle found its footing on the rough plane of concrete than it spotted another of it’s coccinean (scarlet) ilk.

Having delivered my fare and knowing that two’s company and three’s a crowd, I resumed my ride to the West Side of the city—leaving the two East Vancouver ladybugs to get to know each other.