Thursday, August 1, 2013

Rain delay

On Monday I set out on my bike hoping for a bite to eat at a restaurant that warranted a blog post.

Sadly, the restaurant in question is closed on Mondays.  I eventually settled on a little corner restaurant that is nice, but not blog worthy by any means, at least not in any foodie sense, which is what I was after.

I sat in the restaurant because their terrace was full (that's a patio for non-Quebecers, if you're wondering) but was basically outside because the patio doors were wide open and I had a table right on the door sill.

There was rain in the forecast but only tiny amounts and the probability factor was small.  I had calculated that I would be back in the office before any rain fell.

As I was finishing my lunch, I noticed that the breeze had turned a little chilly and the sky was darkening.  I overheard the waitresses saying something about rain.  I lost no time finishing up and setting out for the office.  I only had three miles or so to go.

Less than halfway there, I started feeling little drops.  Within five minutes, it had started raining.  Just as the rain started I stopped and put on my rain jacket.  When I take these little lunchtime trips I don't bother with my armored pants.  I always have my rain jacket under the seat, but I don't carry rain pants.  I think I'll pack my rain pants from now on.

As I headed south on St-Urbain, the rainfall was getting to be a problem.  Although I'm better protected than if I was on a motorcycle, particularly since I still have the tall windscreen on, my suit pants were soon going to be wet if I didn't seek shelter.

About a minute later I was riding past Place des Arts, and I was on the lookout for a shelter option.  Providence provided.  I spotted a bicycle rack with scooters and motorcycles parked next to the rack, that was conveniently located under the building's overhang.

After the storm abated some fifteen or twenty minutes later, I was on my way.  I never really did get wet.  Perhaps only slightly damp.

4 comments:

Canajun said...

I can recall my riding-commuting days. More than once I showed up at a client meeting slightly damp/soaking wet. Usually it just resulted in a "what kind of idiot rides a motorcycle on a rainy day" look and the meeting would progress as normal.

Trobairitz said...

Of course the rain couldn't wait until you were back at the office. Not a very polite rain.

Did you end up late for work after lunch because of the delay?

David Masse said...

Dave, I'm not sure what people think or feel here when they see me walking around the building dressed like a spaceman. I don't envy tops the list.

David Masse said...

Brandy I ended up being 10 minutes late. No big deal.

Standing there looking passively at the rain, I realized that I used to do that much more often as a kid. There are valuable things we lose as we get old and serious.

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