Morning Commute

I tried to ware my poncho this morning. I got to the end of the driveway and figured out that was not going to work. I went back in the house. Nat was not feeling well so I rummaged around the closet and storage corner of the bedroom until I found my old rain suit. I only used the pants. I bundled up and made it to work with blowing rain in the high thirties warm and dry. Glad I was waring my boots because the stop where I exit the bus was flooded for some reason. It almost looks like the sidewalk sank behind the curb.

It could have been much worse. The poncho gave me trouble. I was outside, under the over hang in front of my front door trying to put the poncho on and still listen to my radio. That is a much harder chore than it sounds. The poncho is unwieldy and the snaps keep coming undone. I finally got rolling and the rain blew right up the damn poncho. I turned around and went back in to fetch my full rain suit.

The rain felt a bit like sleet. It was just water. There were no snow flurries. My only exposed areas were my hands and face. I tucked my hands up my sleeves a bit. That works well with the North Face jacket my father found for me. The hood of the jacket closes up so my face was pretty well protected too. I had a scarf on as well. I was so warm that half way through my walk, I had to start letting my hands out to cool off a bit. Awesome.

The bus stop I wait at was dry. I only waited for a moment. Good day to walk right up and get on the bus. I had to sit on the bus with my backpack still on under my jacket. It takes me a minute to get in and out so no point in removing it. Fortunately, ridership was light this morning. Every one was bundled up like a new born.

The stop where I got off was under water. People were jumping over a lake to get to the bus which had stopped several meters short of the stop. I had to walk through the mud behind the stop to avoid drowning in the muck trapped behind the curb. Normally, bus patrons worry about the water in front of the curb that assholes drive through to drench them while waiting. Today would have been a very bad day indeed to get wet in the elements.

When I got to work I had to disassemble the external armor against the wet and cold. My boots were muddy so I switched to  some shoes I leave at work. I would have been soaked from the waste down had I stayed with the poncho only. I have to say that I'm a bit proud of having braved the elements and stayed warm and dry on such a wet cold blowing rain day.

No one else seems to have had quite so much excitement on the way to work this morning.