at a coffee shop, avec pants.

pants. check

bike, helmet, gloves. check.

weather. ... che-hit.

It's nice to have a bike in a city because I can get nearly anywhere I want on my own schedule, most often quicker than transit can, sometimes even quicker than a car can.

However, the other two will make sure I'm dry when I there.

I'm not prepared to bike through this weather. I bring clothes with me when I take my bike to work - I don't like walking around in swassy clothes for an entire day - but I don't have the wet pants or the rubber shoes or the fenders or the [insert other items].

Like I said, I bike because I like keeping my own schedule. With that said, I was texting a new friend just now, explaining the liking of biking and the complaining of raining when I thought to myself ...

It'll be nice when I decide to leave here because I'm not going to have to be on the move immediately. I won't be rushing around through traffic and arrive home in a huff and a puff and an exasperated sigh. I can take my time and get there when the people in charge of getting me there feel like getting me there. I have no where to be and thus no reason to be rushed.

Then I laughed at the irony of how my version of rushing around is someone else's Sunday afternoon bike ride. The most stressful thing in my life is how I get to the next coffee shop¹.

I felt defeated when I climbed my stairs, after helmeting up, only to find that it was raining quite a bit more than I had thought which was not at all. I had been trapped in my basement room for the duration of the day where my only access to the outside a six inch window that I use as a book shelf for my dictionaries. It took me a good three minutes of standing on the little stoop inside the door that lead to the rain to decide that going out was still an option, even without my bike.

If it wasn't for leaving the house despite not taking my bike I never would have heard the guy seated behind me say to the girl seated with him "do you understand how much I cherish you?" I've experienced a few tid-bits of relationship blossoms while at this brand of coffee place. I'll share another with you in a few days.

My coffee has gone cold, but I'm pretty sure my jacket has dried off. Perhaps it's time to go get it damp again. There's a crowd gathering just outside the window where buses have been stopping all afternoon.

Cheers!

¹ this, of course, is not true. the most stressful part of my life is that I have two degrees, I'm trained in something I like doing and it's unlikely that I'll find work in this province any time soon. Of course, this isn't really that stressful because I got into this knowing it. Perhaps I didn't understand the degree of difficulty, or how much I would want to work in Ontario. Worst case scenario, I go somewhere and apprendre une neuveau langue.