yesterday it was summer, today it’s 17 degrees
i am not kidding.
well, ok, it wasn’t summer yesterday, but it was last saturday. it was seriously over 90 degrees, according to the thermometer on my shaded porch.
and today it was 17 degrees when i got up for work.
dallas freaks out whenever there’s any kind of winter precipitation. yesterday we had the barest hint of freezing rain, and while it was true that there were thin glazes of ice on a lot of surfaces today, that wasn’t any reason for the whole city to shut down. but it did. all the school districts, and most of the universities… except, of course, for mine. which explains why i was awake, crabby, and outdoors at 7:30 a.m.
i wasn’t about to drive when i didn’t know what the conditions were (and knowing how dallas people drive on ice, which is to say, the same way they drive every other day of the year, too fast and too close), so i left the house at 7:30 and walked 1/2 mile to the bus stop. pure misery. the wind was blowing hard enough to make my ears numb and tears run freely from my eyes. it felt like they were freezing on my cheeks. i’m glad i had some hot tea with me. my steamy peppermint savior.
my clever plan to avoid having to drive today backfired when i got to work and realized that the university had made the call at 7:35 to delay opening until 10 a.m. i’d been checking my email and voice mail all the way up until the time i left the house, but missed it by 5 minutes.
i was so mad! ben let me leave at 3:30 today to make up for the fact that i was there an hour and a half before anybody else.
the trek home was an adventure, too. because i was leaving at a different time than normal, i had to figure out the buses and trains to catch to get myself home most efficiently. i decided to hoof it to lover’s lane station (about 1 mile from my office) and catch the 569 bus all the way to my stop, 1/2 mile from home.
this would have worked fantastically had i gotten there 20 seconds earlier. the bus had JUST pulled away from the curb and i ran towards it, waving my arm like i was hailing a cab. i’ve seen people do this, it works. i was probably 10 yards from the bus. it stopped as i ran up to it… and then turned and drove off.
and i was like, you motherfucker. it’s 29 fucking degrees out, you’re 20 feet away from your stop, we’re NOT on a major road, we’re at a train station… and you didn’t let me on! there was no way the driver couldn’t have seen me; i was running like a crazy person, waving my arms, directly towards the front of the bus.
wait, maybe i DID look like a crazy person. no, that can’t be right. i had on a cute swing coat and cap, was dressed neatly, and was smiling. i don’t look crazy, do i?? do i??
anyway, i just stood there looking shocked. a passerby expressed her shock that the driver didn’t let me on, especially because he was still “in the zone.” i guess “in the zone” is a bus station term i’m not familiar with, but maybe they’re supposed to let people on if they’re a certain number of feet from the stop or something.
i realized that i was feeling actual pure anger. blood-boiling anger. i wanted to hit something! i thought about hitting the rear end of the bus as it pulled away but realized that i’d then be looked at like, well, a crazy person. so i stewed instead.
and then i hopped on a red train south to mockingbird, then a blue train north to white rock. i hoped to beat that fucking 569 to white rock station, where i could then get on it and ride the rest of the way home. i spent the whole train ride thinking of something snarky to say to the bus driver when he pulled in to the station and saw me sitting at his stop, waiting. the best thing i could come up with was “gee, i guess it’s my lucky day.” subtle, not too mean, but definitely snarky.
so as my train pulled into white rock, i saw the 569 pulling away. foiled again!!
unbelievable.
so i got on the 428 bus and it let me off at the corner of plano and northwest highway, where it was only a nice 1 mile walk home in the 29 degree weather.
all told, i probably hiked 2-3/4 miles in subfreezing weather. that HAD to burn off some calories, right? being mad probably burned some more.
