happy birthday!!

doing that rain thing here today too. perfect timing - it started just as i was bringing my bike up to the street. i got to drop the bike and (finally) try out my fancy-pants new waterproof breathable rain pants that i bought last week. yee hah!

and they rock. totally comfortable. they're waterproof all right, and they must be breathable because all i had on underneath was an old silk jumpsuit i'd never wear in public, and it was dry as a bone when i got to work and climbed out. so cool; i'm just thrilled with them. the silk has just the right amount of extra warmth too. i am a happy puppy.

rained more or less all day, and i kept looking at it out the windows and thinking 'i think this is what we call heavy rain. right?' by leaving time it was bouncing back off the road in that two-inch-deep haze of small drops that's kind of a clue, so i was pretty sure. but it doesn't feel like it when you're on a bike somehow. i don't really understand how that works. i started climbing back into my outfit at 6:30 and kind of delayed a little, but by the time i got to the bridge, the cars were still backed up all the way around the cloverleaf. it was really fun. i slipped by them all in the bike lane, and i could just imagine they were all probably looking at me and thinking variations on the poor thing/maniac theme. but it wasn't like that at all. i guess rain only looks super-heavy to you when you're behind glass and you can see it falling on you.

it also seems to be good for you if you're on a bike. i just couldn't believe how much faster i got to both destinations today - and i wasn't trying. i can't be in that much better shape than i used to be. went to the bank and deposited a cheque, rode home on the 'real' roads with the 'real' traffic and practiced my traffic sense, and i feel like i could wrestle a python and win. i rode home in indisputably, officially, dirty weather, and it wasn't just manageable - it was one of the most fun days i've had so far.

songs: the obvious child, paul simon; christmas in prison, john prine; gallant murray, traditional.