How About This Heat?
Things move a little slower in the summer here in Albany.
And no, I'm not going to talk about the traffic... well, OK. But only for one sentence: (inhale deeply) In Albany there are three seasons-- Winter, Road Construction Season and Next Winter-- Winter stretches until late May/early June (May 13th, 2002: snow... I'm not joking), followed immediately by hordes of construction crews rushing to patch and repave half the state before the inevitable onset of Next Winter, which shows up in September (pause for breath), so suffice to say there are a few delays on your daily commute, whether it be across 30 miles of highway or simply backing out of your driveway (exhale). But anyway.
I've waited through a long Winter (or it could have been a Next Winter, I'm not sure which it was) for this moment. It's summer. It's here. Fucking finally.
Most of the locals take this time to gripe about how hot it is. All summer. Mind you, these are the same people who bitched all winter about how cold it was. I came to the conclusion that the only time these ingrates feel comfortable is the four days immediately surrounding each equinox. In other words, they're happy for a little more than two weeks out of fifty two. I don't get it.
Right now I feel like somebody crawling out of a bomb shelter after a nuclear fallout, seeing the light of day for the first time in who knows when. Winters are long up here, and it's been a gorgeous summer so far. This past weekend, we had a stretch of 95-degree heat with stifling humidity. I loved every second of it. I'm like a kid in this weather, constantly just wanting to be in that great place known simply as "outside."
Of course, my youthful tendencies are only heightened by the fact that I bought a new bike this weekend. First new bike in 15 years for me. And it had to be done. As you know, I had been riding my old mountain bike recently. The first time I rode it, I hurt my back. The second time, I blew the back tire. The third time was on Saturday-- the pedal fell off. Yes, you read that correctly. Not just the plastic part, but the entire metal stem that connects to the frame. Apparently, the nut holding the thing on unscrewed itself sometime during my ride. When this happened, I have no clue, all I know is that I started feeling my left foot getting far more lateral movement than it should, and when I looked down, the piece was gone. Strike three.
So what did you do?
Well, I'm glad you asked. I rode a mile and a half to Home Depot, having to kick the pedal back on with my foot every twenty feet or so (I was in sandals). At the Depot, I grabbed a 15 cent nut (which was English measurement, by the way, and you should know this because the bike used all metric-measured parts), got it about a half-inch onto the bolt before it stopped moving, and rode home (6 miles) on a wobbly pedal. The decision was made sometime during that trek.
So yeah, I got a new bike Sunday. And I love it. So I apologize in advance if I don't get to post every day. If you're looking for me, I'll be outside.
posted by BJC @ 10:42 PM
Your thoughts (6 so far)
6 Comments:
Nothing like being able to spend many many hours outdoors. At least you are riding your bike, I have a fairly new bike that cost a $1000 and I only ride it a couple times a year. People bitch about the weather out here too, in the winter it's too rainy and in the summer it's too hot. I just look at it as the weather could always be worse, whether hurricane's like the south or 40 degrees celcius like it is in parts of the world.
Weather whiners!
Here in my part of the Nevada desert, we've replaced the "it sure is hot today" expression with the currently fashionable "it sure is on fire today."
The mountains surrounding our town are on fire. No danger, the range is over 15 miles away, but it sure is pretty at night. And, okay, a little smoky during the day.
But at least it has distracted the populace from that worn out phrase "Is it hot enough for you?"
*Morris Workman
www.mesquedia.com
workmanchronicles.blogspot.com
P.S.-It was in the mid-90's here this week. We're sure enjoying the break, after a two-week string of 100-plus degree weather.
celsius... hmm... sounds vaguely familiar.....
Out west here on Vancouver Island we don't get cold more than a week a year, we get the rain...
We have the relative high heat (95 or so), the humidity (100,000,000,000%) and the gnats. Yep. Gnats. But at least the 'Boro doesn't have the biting sand gnats like Savannah. Now it's raining though and for the next week or so too, so no more running outside for a bit.
D
Michelle, I'm going to need a ruling here...
In your book, what constitutes "cold?"
What is the coldest it gets in the winter during the day? What is the normal temperature for winter during the day?
I ask these pointed questions because this is how I ended up in the freakin' desert...stupidly believing a St. George Chamber of Commerce chart that said the average July temperature was around 84.
It wasn't until I actually moved to St. George that I found that this was the average when factoring in the night temperature.
The TRUE average daytime temperature in July is 102.
*Morris Workman
www.mesquedia.com
workmanchronicles.blogspot.com
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