Keeping Poetic & Chic in the Rain

It's another rainy day here in the city by the bay. Actually, not that rainy, more like spitting a soft mist and just making everything wet all over.  Running a little late for work, I got onto my 85%-full express bus and was immediately greeted by the eau de high school locker room. The bus  fills even more at every stop, and eventually I have nowhere to move: bags, briefcases, and umbrellas are all very trippable objects on a crowded bus - especially with the way Muni drivers navigate traffic.  The smell is gross, but you get used to it. Seventy-five odd people on one bus in the rain, each wearing damp overcoats and scarves can create such a stench - especially if no one realizes that they can open a window. Luckily, I was standing (read: hanging on for dear life) next to an open window, gasping in the delicious fresh air. Yes, outside it may be San Francisco in December, but inside the air is as thick as New York in July.

I get off the bus and begin my brisk walk to the office - the Gorillaz and Black Eyed Peas are on the iPod to keep my pace. About half-way there I realize that my right sock is feeling...well, squishy. Why this dampness in my shoe? I look at the bottom of my rubber soles which I thought would be so efficient given the weather, and find three small cracks in the rubber that must be letting the puddles seep into my toes. Ugh! Well, they are some old shoes...time to buy new ones!

I make my way along and into the building, struggling to find my security badge amidst cell-phone, bus pass, and iPod. I make my way past the security guard thinking: "Oooh - I should have grabbed one of those plastic "umbrella bags" for my wet...."

It all happened so fast. All at once I'm in a heap with my left leg tucked neatly underneath me - like I'm sliding into third base, except I'm not. I somehow remember my mother calling this sort of thing "fallingdownbingo" when I was a child - it's strange the thoughts that come to you in these moments of vulenrability. There's a nice girl standing there who saw the whole thing and she grabs my elbow to give me a lift - this is when I realize that I have completely squshed my lunch in the fall.  The Black Eyed Peas are still singing in my ears, so when she mouths "Are you okay?" I just nod dumbly and thank her. Collecting myself, my various scattered goodies, and crushed lunchables - I proceed to my elevator bank. That's when I see him: there his is... not ten feet away...a janitor dry mopping the little puddles on the marble floor.

Yeah - you missed a spot, buddy.

Merde, il pleut. 

(Actually, on my way into the building, I saw someone carrying this umbrella and laughed outloud...my sentiments exactly!) 

Comments

[Susanna]

Yeah, probably not so easy remaining P&C in the rain. Probably much better to be peripatetic in the rain. And yes, I do know what that means! Smirk.

Susanna