Dodging raindrops
Nov. 10th, 2018 07:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ladyofastolatThe weather forecast hadn't looked conducive to walking, but after the excitement of last night's stormy weather, this morning was sunny, and the BBC was promising nothing more than "light showers." So off I went, although in a concession to last night's drenching, I decided to stick to paved surfaces. I even planned a route that would bring me back home at lunch time, so I could abort if the "light showers" were too vexing.
The morning was rather nice, with the only showers being indeed light and very short. So after lunch, off I set on a longer route. Torrential downpour number 1 happened about 2 miles away, and I got rather wet, but nothing, I thought, that wouldn't gradually dry over the next few miles. As it did. And JUST as it had, along came a downpour that made the previous "torrential" downpour seem like a mere speck of drizzle. There were cats and dogs and stair-rods. It was a veritable monsoon, and within seconds my legs below my waterproof were as wet as if I'd jumped in the nearby river. Since I was walking on paved paths, I was only wearing my running shoes, not my hiking boots, and they soaked through in seconds. Within minutes, my waterproof was failing, too.
It stopped soon enough, but I was utterly soaked. Nothing for it, though, but to carry on walking, although now in the direction of home. By mile 15, I was nearly home again, and thought (wrongly) that I "almost dry," enough to make me want to embark on another seafront loop to take it to the 20 miles I'd been hoping for (I've signed up to do a 24 hour/72 mile walk in early May, so want to do a walk of at least 20 miles most weeks over the winter.) Cue another torrential downpour, although this one fortunately commenced its overture when I was just a few hundred yards from home. Run run ruuuun! I got in and removed all my wet clothes (ie. all of them), realising that trousers that had felt "almost dry" after miles of wearing them were actually still wet enough to wring out.
Into dry clothes. Cup of tea. But the 20 mile target still beckoned, so, seeing that the rain had stopped, I went out in new trousers, new coat, new shoes, this time cautiously limiting myself to short looping routes around the estate. A mile later, though less than half a mile from home... Torrential downpour! Run run ruuuun! Peel off second pair of sodden trousers. Put second coat on the radiator.
Cup of tea.
Ooh, it's stopped raining again! Put on new trousers and the least wet of the coats, and head out again, walk a few hundred yards... Aagh! No! Not again! Run run ruuunnn!
No cup of tea this time. Half an hour later, see that it's stopped raining AGAIN. Put on coat again and head out, determined to get those final 2 miles in, no matter what. Another torrential downpour fell on my head just when I was at the furthest point from home, but I told it that I didn't care, and it gave up and went away, allowing me, at last, to approach my front door calmly and without running, with 20 miles on the clock.
So the house is now littered with wet trousers. And, yes, I know that waterproof trousers exist, but:
A. I don't know where mine are. They're in the loft somewhere, but the loft is an Aladdin's cave of LARP kit, all of it doubtless perfectly organised, but not using any system I understand.
B. I hate wearing them except in very set-in rain. It's horribly fiddly to put them on and take them off over boots, so if you put them on just for a shower, you're then stuck with them after the shower's stopped, and they're horribly hot and bothersome.
C. I was considerably larger when I bought them, so they make me look like the Michelin man.
The BBC is promising "light showers" again tomorrow. Hmm...
The morning was rather nice, with the only showers being indeed light and very short. So after lunch, off I set on a longer route. Torrential downpour number 1 happened about 2 miles away, and I got rather wet, but nothing, I thought, that wouldn't gradually dry over the next few miles. As it did. And JUST as it had, along came a downpour that made the previous "torrential" downpour seem like a mere speck of drizzle. There were cats and dogs and stair-rods. It was a veritable monsoon, and within seconds my legs below my waterproof were as wet as if I'd jumped in the nearby river. Since I was walking on paved paths, I was only wearing my running shoes, not my hiking boots, and they soaked through in seconds. Within minutes, my waterproof was failing, too.
It stopped soon enough, but I was utterly soaked. Nothing for it, though, but to carry on walking, although now in the direction of home. By mile 15, I was nearly home again, and thought (wrongly) that I "almost dry," enough to make me want to embark on another seafront loop to take it to the 20 miles I'd been hoping for (I've signed up to do a 24 hour/72 mile walk in early May, so want to do a walk of at least 20 miles most weeks over the winter.) Cue another torrential downpour, although this one fortunately commenced its overture when I was just a few hundred yards from home. Run run ruuuun! I got in and removed all my wet clothes (ie. all of them), realising that trousers that had felt "almost dry" after miles of wearing them were actually still wet enough to wring out.
Into dry clothes. Cup of tea. But the 20 mile target still beckoned, so, seeing that the rain had stopped, I went out in new trousers, new coat, new shoes, this time cautiously limiting myself to short looping routes around the estate. A mile later, though less than half a mile from home... Torrential downpour! Run run ruuuun! Peel off second pair of sodden trousers. Put second coat on the radiator.
Cup of tea.
Ooh, it's stopped raining again! Put on new trousers and the least wet of the coats, and head out again, walk a few hundred yards... Aagh! No! Not again! Run run ruuunnn!
No cup of tea this time. Half an hour later, see that it's stopped raining AGAIN. Put on coat again and head out, determined to get those final 2 miles in, no matter what. Another torrential downpour fell on my head just when I was at the furthest point from home, but I told it that I didn't care, and it gave up and went away, allowing me, at last, to approach my front door calmly and without running, with 20 miles on the clock.
So the house is now littered with wet trousers. And, yes, I know that waterproof trousers exist, but:
A. I don't know where mine are. They're in the loft somewhere, but the loft is an Aladdin's cave of LARP kit, all of it doubtless perfectly organised, but not using any system I understand.
B. I hate wearing them except in very set-in rain. It's horribly fiddly to put them on and take them off over boots, so if you put them on just for a shower, you're then stuck with them after the shower's stopped, and they're horribly hot and bothersome.
C. I was considerably larger when I bought them, so they make me look like the Michelin man.
The BBC is promising "light showers" again tomorrow. Hmm...
