It’s gotten extremely cold here, at least in the mornings, so that now we’re in that confusing time of year when I need a heavy coat on first thing when I go out but by the time the afternoon rolls around the most I need is a light jacket, and even that might be too much. Of course I completely forgot that this morning because I’m still not used to actually going in to the office. By the time I get really settled into the routine of one day in the old building and four days at home, followed by the weekend, things will probably have changed so much that suddenly I’ll have to switch to working in the office full time, or at least more than once a week, and I’ll have a whole new routine to learn.
This morning it was really cold, too. That’s not a surprise—it’s been really cold for at least a couple of weeks now, especially in the mornings. I usually get up just before dawn which I was once told is the coldest time—it’s when the sun has been gone longest and the last remains of the day’s heat have finally been sucked out into space. Things start to warm up again once the sun rises but it’s November so they haven’t exactly been warm.
This morning I went out in my hat and gloves and started the car a few minutes before I left, which I haven’t done since some time last winter, and even when I got in the car it was still cold. I was halfway to work when the heater finally started producing warmth rather than just blowing cold air in my face. And then I had this brilliant idea. In spite of the cold it was still a clear, sunny morning, and I thought, hey, if I park on the roof of the parking garage the car will be nice and toasty by the time I set off for home.
I also kind of wanted to go back to the roof of the parking garage. Back in the old days when I needed a quick break, when it was either before or after lunch but I needed to get away from my desk and clear my head, I’d go to the parking garage next door and run up one flight of stairs all the way to the roof, walk around a bit, take in the view, then go back down a different flight of stairs. It was a nice way to get some exercise and that breath of air at the top, whether hot or cold, was a treat.
So I parked the car on the roof this morning, warmed by the thought of how warm I’d be this afternoon, and it didn’t occur to me that it gets warm during the day. In fact when I went out for lunch my hat and gloves and heavy coat were too much. When I finally go back to the car it’s going to be unpleasantly hot.
And there’s no way to carry that over until next Monday.
It gets hard to get use to a routine one hasn’t done in a while. I get you and the entire cold weather switch. It was 27 degrees on my way to work this morning, my heavy leather coat and gloves on as I drove into the office. I walk around campus as well to clear my head and get the heck out of the office for a while.
It is really hard to get back even to an old routine–it’s been long enough that my old routine is a new routine, really. And I used to park in a garage that was more than a quarter of a mile from my office and have a long walk every morning. Now, even though the parking garage is right next door to the building where my office is, I always seem to be almost late and I don’t have time to take a walk before work. So much still looks the same but feels so very different.
Thanks for the warmth of your blog, Chris, which helps me prepare to leave my home for work on a Monday.
It’s a Friday now, and a little chilly where I am, but your comments always help warm me up.