Rain

Last night at around 05:30 the alarm went off and either before or afterwards I heard lightning. I also heard very heavy rain. The question was whether the weather app was to be trusted. I could see that it would rain heavily while I walked from home to the meeting point but that for the duration of the rain it would remain dry.

I chose to take a good raincoat and walked in the rain towards the meeting point. For a moment I thought that I would be alone. Luckily two others turned up, including the person that suggested the run.

Yesterday I walked in light persistent rain for around two hours and my trousers got a little wet. The rain was heavy enough for me not to be dry, but not heavy enough to soak me. During the walk I noticed, at one point, that the rain seemed to be aerosolised, floating upwards and sideways rather than straight down.

The wind was picking up so I suspect that it’s the wind that changed the properties and behaviour of the rain.

Yesterday afternoon I heard some very loud banging. I thought that it was due to an idiot driving a farming machine into something solid and they were trying to fix the damage. As it continued it made me furious. It’s for this reason that I decided to spend the rest of the afternoon on my bike.

When I rode by the absurd people making a huge amount of noise I saw that they were hammering at the bed of their flat bed truck. For some reason they were hitting it as hard as they could with hammers.

Routine is extremely important. With routine the question is not “whether you can be bothered” but “I will do this.” You go from asking “if” to automatically assuming that on Wednesday morning you will ride, and sunday morning you will ride. If a ride is cancelled for A or B then you’re asking “if”, but you’re also making other plans.

This weekend, for example, I saw that it would rain today. I assumed that the ride would be cancelled so psychologically I shifted my plans. I went for a group raclette and when the meal was over I stayed for a digestif, and then another, and then we went out. In the end I got home at 3:56 or so, and I went to sleep at 5 in the morning. That’s both really late, and really early. If I had got up for the bike ride I would have had two hours of sleep.

Bike rides have been cancelled because of rain, rather than wind or other factors. When it rains cyclists don’t want to ride because it gets their bike dirty and they have to clean it, lubricate it and more. With hikers rain is also an excuse to be lazy, within some groups. With other groups rain is just rain and the walks and hikes go ahead.

Yesterday morning we had stormy weather. It was raining very hard, and so windy that rain was aerosolised rather than falling as raindrops. As gusts blew, so you saw a cloud of rain move with the wind. You could see gutters overflowing as the wind blew water out over the lip of the edge. It was strong enough to change the direction of water flowing with gravity.

With Autumn comes a change in weather. The days get shorter and the temperatures drop. Clouds come more often, and stick around. The result is that events that are scheduled are cancelled.

Today the weather was good, but the event is scheduled for tomorrow. In a situation such as this I would consider moving the event forward by one day, to take advantage of the good weather. It is a shame to stick to a day, when a shift is possible.

Yesterday I walked from a “village” to a town. In the process I saw very few people out and about. I don’t know whether they stayed in because of the weather, or if they fled because of the three day weekend. Today is a cantonal holiday so shops in Vaud are closed. This could explain why it was quieter yesterday.

It was funny to walk in the rain, equipped for it. Other people had gone out, expecting good weather. They got heavy rain instead. The castle in Nyon had a few people sheltering, but very few were taking photos and appreciating the view. On a rainy day the view is of white clouds, rather than the Alps. The lake was flat too, except for the ripples caused by falling rain.

Yesterday I planned to walk so I put on my hiking boots and just as I was about to go out I heard large rain drops hit the velux. I thought “according to the weather app the rain should be light”. It wasn’t light. It was heavy and sustained.

You might think “So, why didn’t you just wait out the rain. A few days ago I saw that rain was forecast, so I didn’t go for an after lunch walk. The rain never came so I ended up going for my walk at rush hour, when everyone was commuting home, rather than when it was quiet.

Last night I was tempted by the idea of going for a bike ride this morning but chose not to because I wanted to save my energy to ride with a group tomorrow. Now, as I watch some induhviduals (intentional spelling) prepare things for an all night party I’m thinking “oh duck, I made the wrong decision”. If I had gone for the group ride today, I could have fled the noise pollution that will take place this evening, and this evening.

Last night I could have gone for a group ride, and it wouldn’t have rained on, despite what the weather said. As I went for a ride that morning, and felt tired, it felt rational not to ride in the evening.

Last night it rained consistently until this morning but now the sun is almost out again and the sky is brighter. In theory this means that cycling would be an option.