Bike 3
Wind, rain, and sun
Wind
The weather folks on the radio were not exaggerating when they said it was windy this morning. Usually, their commentary instills such dread of going outside that I can hardly drag myself from under the covers, but when I finally achieve it, it's not that bad. Today, however, the wind was worthy. It was one of those swirling, gusting wind that blows to your head no matter what direction you turn -- except for those precious seconds it whirls around pushes at your back for a moment, before turning against you again. In the final metres of my commute, running the gauntlet between a cluster of tall apartments in the midst of low-house suburbia, a wind tunnel effect nearly stopped me in my tracks.
Rain
The weather folks had also predicted freezing rain, a puzzling thing on a sunny day that's supposed to crack zero for the first time in what seems like forever. Yet there was a strange dampness, a wet sheen over everything outside that suggested some sort of mist or precipitation. The glazed streets only added to the treacherousness of fresh potholes and widened road snakes, filthy puddles, and frozen ruts.
Sun
Oh, the glorious light! We seem to lose the daylight a minute a day starting in August, so that the darkness just creeps up on you until one day it's mid-December and dark at 4:30. But the light, she returns slowly at first, in January, when every extra second is a promise that the wintry chill won't last forever; then suddenly, in huge leaps and bounds, the light comes back, and it's still blue when you leave the office after 8!
Unrelated postscript:
Careening the wrong way down a one-way street for one block, it struck me I ought to keep eyes peeled for police. My next thought was that on this particular block, law enforcement was likely to have better things to do than ticket me. And low and behold, just up ahead, there was an arrest in progress. Never a dull moment!
Wind
The weather folks on the radio were not exaggerating when they said it was windy this morning. Usually, their commentary instills such dread of going outside that I can hardly drag myself from under the covers, but when I finally achieve it, it's not that bad. Today, however, the wind was worthy. It was one of those swirling, gusting wind that blows to your head no matter what direction you turn -- except for those precious seconds it whirls around pushes at your back for a moment, before turning against you again. In the final metres of my commute, running the gauntlet between a cluster of tall apartments in the midst of low-house suburbia, a wind tunnel effect nearly stopped me in my tracks.
Rain
The weather folks had also predicted freezing rain, a puzzling thing on a sunny day that's supposed to crack zero for the first time in what seems like forever. Yet there was a strange dampness, a wet sheen over everything outside that suggested some sort of mist or precipitation. The glazed streets only added to the treacherousness of fresh potholes and widened road snakes, filthy puddles, and frozen ruts.
Sun
Oh, the glorious light! We seem to lose the daylight a minute a day starting in August, so that the darkness just creeps up on you until one day it's mid-December and dark at 4:30. But the light, she returns slowly at first, in January, when every extra second is a promise that the wintry chill won't last forever; then suddenly, in huge leaps and bounds, the light comes back, and it's still blue when you leave the office after 8!
Unrelated postscript:
Careening the wrong way down a one-way street for one block, it struck me I ought to keep eyes peeled for police. My next thought was that on this particular block, law enforcement was likely to have better things to do than ticket me. And low and behold, just up ahead, there was an arrest in progress. Never a dull moment!
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