Neumans of Nanaimo

I promised myself that I wouldn't make any more posts about rain in Nanaimo, but this was one of those exceptional days and I just had to share.  I'll probably break that rule a lot anyway .. we talk about weather in Canada and this is just as true in BC as it is in always-changing Alberta.



I needed to run out and do the most mundane of tasks .. pick up some alterations and some cream for my tea.  Yea, yea, I know .. don't shoot me .. I like cream in my tea.  Lemon just strikes me as bitter on bitter.  Cream takes the edge off.   Anyway ... I hadn't had any real tea since yesterday morning, so I thought I'd stop and get a steaming big cup of decaff Starbucks Cinnamon Dolce latté.  Which I hadn't had for a couple of months, so .. treat time. 

It wasn't coming down in buckets, but it was coming down hard.  Which is a relative term here.  Prairie rains can sting, but west coast rains are generally soft.

Here are some of the things I saw/did/heard/felt/experienced ...

• Driver's side door handle (on the inside with my window, door and mirror controls ) so wet from simply getting in and out that I seriously considered stopping at a drive-through to get a napkin to clean it up.  But then, I'd have to open that window and let more of the deluge in, so I passed on that.  Forgot about that collection of vintage 2009 McDonald's napkins that are stuffed into the glovebox for emergencies.  They really should design rain protections for those electronically stuffed door handles.
• Pants hem wet and slapping against my ankles. The alterations I was picking up include yoga pants whose leg length I'd ensured was longer than what I'm wearing today.  This plan may have flaws. I'll keep you posted.
• My beautiful pansy umbrella flipping inside out from the wind.  We've all been there.  Said umbrella not wanting to collapse properly afterword.  I fixed it, thankfully.  It will live to be rained upon another day.  Cheerily.   Those pansies have a job to do when I go out in the rain .. which is to drive back the dull greyness of the skies.
• Having to turn on my kitchen lights at 10:00am in order to see anything.
• Dropping my Starbucks snack on the floor in Chapter's.  *sigh*
• Rain spatters on my glasses.  A lot of them.  Umbrella plan was good in theory .. in practicality, not so much.
• Insta-fog inside the car.   Each time I got back into the car, its welcoming response was to fog up.  So turn up the heat and defoggers .. rear and front. 
• Rain sucking at my car tires, trying to pull me off course.  I was only doing 30kph in that school zone! 
• Sheets of water sliding down Rutherford hill.  
• A huge spray of water from the big puddle on the side of the road that almost hit a poor pedestrian walking near the plant nursery.
• Pine branches all over the road near the nursery.  I'll bet Bruce finds chunky water tomorrow when he goes out paddling.  You can always tell when we've had high wind from the amount of debris you run into when you're in a small water craft.
• Hair style by Mother Nature.  My hair looks a bit moppish most days .. curly and a bit frizzy, but generally under control.  When I arrived home today, it had frizzed out to three times its normal size.  Good times.  Now I know what to do for Halloween.
• Grocery bags (I picked up more than just cream) dripping rain on my entry floor and then kitchen counter.

So my trip outside was a bit like going to the dentist .. just something you have to do, not something you really wanted to put into a day perfect for plain old couch surfing.

On the other hand, that coffee was almost worth it.

Here's a picture, not of the rain because I'd hesitate to take my camera into that much Wet, but of a halcyon afternoon in the garden when the Japanese maples and mock orange were playing tag with the sunshine.