Oct 15 2008
A Rainy Trip to the Library
I think I’m going to go to the library today to return my books. I’ve done a good job this time: being unemployed has vastly improved my performance on borrowed books. I read almost all of what I’ve got - except for ones that I actually looked at and then decided not to read.
This isn’t what I usually do. Normally, I will check out books, leave them in a pile around the house for three weeks, then finally give up and return them without having opened one (and then usually pay some fines for returning them a day late). I’m even good on that front: they aren’t due until tomorrow.
The only problem with this plan is that - as per usual on days when I want to go to the library - it seems to be getting ready to rain. That picture above is my public library on a bright sunny day, wholly unlike today. Today, the sky is a dark, dingy gray; the air has a cold, heavy, dampness about it. It’s also very still outside… It has that “it’s going to start raining any time” feeling about it. Those of you with cars will go, “What’s the problem? Just go!”… But the thing of it is, kiddies, Mrs. Hall doesn’t have a car. Therefore, I have to make the round trip of twelve blocks (1.34 miles) on foot. Not that I’m complaining about the distance (in fact, I’m glad the library is so close. Our last library was a four mile round trip)… I’m just complaining about the rain.
I mean, seriously. Out of probably seven library trips I’ve made in the past year (I wasn’t going to the library that often when I was employed), it has rained on five of them. How does this always work out this way? I don’t even mind walking in the rain: I just mind walking in the rain with books, because obviously I want to keep them dry, and this makes for a very awkward time under my umbrella. And just like clockwork, my trips to the library seem to go like this: I go to the library unburdened, and it is not raining. While I am in the library picking out new selections, it begins to sprinkle. By the time I emerge with my arm laden with new reading material, there’s an absolute downpour outside.
Ah well. A stroll would probably do me good, as I haven’t been getting out of the house enough lately. But before I go, I think I’ll load up my MP3 player with some Meat Loaf . I’m in a Meat Loafy kind of mood. — Mrs. Hall
P.S. I just discovered that my blog was on a default setting that did not allow people to comment unless they had commented twice before on other today.com blogs (weird). I’ve un-done that so that anybody can comment!
