A month ago, it was spring. It was hot and sunny and the cold and rain stopped. Then it came back. It’s raining right now, and it’s been raining for hours. Which would be fine except for having to bike home in the rain. This morning, the rain had stopped by the time I left for work, and I biked to the train station in an extremely light drizzle, and I hadn’t really thought about the afternoon, except to assume it would probably clear up by then. It never really did, though. It was a slight drizzle pretty much all day, up until the time I left for work. Which is when it started to pour cats and dogs.

Normally, I keep an umbrella and a plastic poncho in my backpack in case of rain. Not today. I can take the bus instead of walking or biking, but I lacked exact change. I stepped into Subway to get some food, and maybe some change, and by the time I stepped out again, the bus had come and gone, and I really didn’t want to wait half an hour for the next one. Besides, how much rain could there be?

I do not think I have ever been more wet than I was by the time I got home. It’s only a ten minute bike ride, but I do not think I could have been thrown into a swimming pool without becoming more wet. The jacket did a decent job of protecting my upper body, but the helmet does little for the hair and face, and the sheets of rain beating down on my glasses make it difficult to see. Sitting on a bicycle, the lower body (being exposed, horizontal, and unprotectd) bears the brunt of the downpour, and by the end of the trip, my legs and feet were pretty well soaked. The final experience, which I have never before had, was that somehow the rain got into my pants, and water started pooling up between my and the bicycle seat inside my clothes, similar to a wet suit, such that I was basically sitting in a pool of water as I biked. That was fun.

Tomorrow, I make sure to bring change for the bus.