Rain or shine, but mostly rain

As we say in Washington, if you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes!

It’s an old adage that, I have to say, is pretty ridiculous. With the exception of Southern California, and perhaps states like Arizona and New Mexico, everyone in the U.S. uses that saying. Everyone thinks that their weather is crazy and unpredictable. But the truth is that weather is difficult to predict and forecast just about everywhere. I have a couple of weather sources that I check regularly, and I can usually get an idea of what to expect (if it’s spring, fall, or winter = rain!). But as I watched the sky last evening, I just knew that the sun would come out today. Sure, all of my weather widgets, web pages and channels agreed that it would, indeed, rain today. But I didn’t need them! I was watching the clouds clear up in front of my eyes. So I wake up this morning for class, and sure enough, I see sunshine. Mark =1, Weather experts = 0. I saw all my waterproof gear where I left it to dry yesterday, and of course I left it there. My waterproof pants fit nicely into the under-seat-no-pets-carrier, but what would I need those for? The sun was out! All through class I kept an expectant eye out the windows, just waiting for the chance to get back out there in the nice weather, and tried desperately to pay attention to Hannah Arendt’s response to Marx (she disagreed with him, right?). But when I began to pack up my things at the end of class, I glanced outside to see dark clouds and… wait for it…. RAIN!

The truth is that it wasn’t really that bad. It was an isolated rain cloud and I only had to ride in it for about 5 minutes. Still, lesson learned. Those waterproof pants are back in the scooter.
I have noticed something pretty interesting about me since I got the scooter. If the weather is crappy, I spend a lot more time delaying my departure and trying to see if I can get away with not going (I don’t usually skip out on things, but the thoughts do cross my mind). If the weather is nice, however, I leave about 20 minutes earlier than I need to. I just get so tired of waiting to get out and ride that I end up leaving really early. If I actually had friends at my school, this wouldn’t really be a big deal. But as it is, I end up sitting in (or out side of) my classroom waiting for people to arrive.

Well, now I’m looking for an excuse to run an errand. I bet I could convince my lady that she wants dessert.