Everything's Harder When It Rains

[rowyn]

It was raining when I set out for work this morning, so I grabbed an umbrella before I left the house.

I don't like walking to work when it's raining. Not because I get wet (although my socks and sneakers do, which is annoying) but because it means using one hand to hold the umbrella and it's hard for me to do anything else with my remaining free hand.

Usually I braid my hair and write during my walk. I could skip writing if I had to, but I did want to get my hair braided. I'm very good at braiding my hair by now, but not good enough to do it one-handed. So I balanced the umbrella awkwardly in the crook of my elbow, with the post against my shoulder and the spokes at the top resting against my hair. I reached around the pole and under the spokes for my ponytail and divided it into two sections to make my usual twist braid. As I twisted the sections individually clockwise and together counterclockwise, I thought, Ha, if I'm not careful I could end up braiding my hair to the umbrella spokes.

I finished the braid with some difficulty, then took the handle of the umbrella to adjust it to a less clumsy position.

Tug.

Or, possibly, even if I am careful. Laughing, I undid the braid and braided it again, sans umbrella spoke. One of those little paper cocktail umbrellas might make a cute hair adornment, but a full-size one is a bolder fashion statement than I want to make at work.

Although it would solve the problem of needing a hand to hold the umbrella.

Comments

[pyat.livejournal.com]

This is a rather charming anecdote, you know. :)

[rowyn]

Thanks! I thought it was funny enough to write down. :)

[level-head.livejournal.com]

Do you wear a backpack when walking to work?

I'd jury-rig an umbrella mount to that immediately. Both hands free!

And thin collapsible plastic footcovers might be useful to have in that backpack, too. They're essentially plastic bags with elastic tops. Often, they're disposable. (In fact, plastic bags and rubber bands work pretty well for this. And if it gets really rainy, you can slip the SideKick into a bag to protect it.

... But it was an amusing mental image. ];-)

Best wishes!

===|==============/ Level Head

[rowyn]

I bring a sort of backpack thing to work. It's actually a thin polyester back with double drawstrings that serve as shoulder straps. It's really lightweight (which is why I use it) and not sturdy enough to support an umbrella in any useful position.

I do have a real backpack, and once tried to rig an umbrella to it, but it didn't work out.

Footcovers are a good idea. :)

[level-head.livejournal.com]

Patented, it seems, in 2001.

But I could not easily turn one up for sale, though a number of Chinese sites offered those words jumbled into others. Most of them were ad-spam junk sites, one of the newer epidemics of Internet poisoning.

===|==============/ Level Head

[rowyn]

I was just browsing back through old entries, and was reminded that I never updated you on this. While the backpack/umbrella combination doesn't work with the typical collapsible umbrella (handle's too short), it does work with a golf umbrella or other oversized umbrella. :) Still has problems if the rain's not coming straight down, but it does nicely otherwise.

[koogrr.livejournal.com]

Well.....

there's the ever unpopular beenie-umbrella. Though, that would interfere with braiding your hair.

Alternatively, there's the Blade Runner Umbrella, it lights up. If I actually used them I'd seriously consider getting it. Also the Forecasting Umbrella tells you if you need it. If there's a hot-spot nearby where it can get wi-fi... I think.

But braiding one into your hair, that works too.

[rowyn]

Okay, now I want the Blade Runner umbrella. :)

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

I usually just wear a coat and a hat, and then revel in dampness once I get back inside.

[rowyn]

One day, back when Lut and I both worked downtown, there was a torrential downpour just as I got off work. I didn't have an umbrella, and I'm not sure it would've made a difference if I had. I walked three blocks through it to the parking garage, then stood outside of it to wait for Lut to arrive.

A man standing in the lee of the garage, out of reach of the rain, stared at me like I was insane. "Why are you standing in the rain?"

I looked back at him and smiled. "What difference does it make? I can't possibly get any wetter."