rain or whine

Today was "girls night" with a few of my coworkers. On the agenda: drinks at Cactus Club and Eat Pray Love at the Scotiabank Theatre.

Having my bike with me, I walked it from the restaurant to the cinema. There's something elegant about walking a bicycle. It's somewhere to rest your hands, a rolling companion that feels more often like pulling you along than needing to be dragged places. (Funny, isn't it?) Besides, Burrard Street, a margarita, and a light dizzle aren't best of friends.

There were bicycles (more than one!) in the movie, with baskets and even the bell itself got a mention. One was very clearly a brown Electra Amsterdam (and interestingly enough for the theme of the movie: not the "women's" version).

By the time we exited the theatre post-movie, the drizzle had been replaced by plain and simple rain. Rain, rain, rain.

Yesterday I had bought a new, shiny, red raincoat!



Unfortunately, I hadn't worn it to work today.



Fortunately, I live about 7 minutes from the theatre and my green non-waterproof coat held up for that distance.



Unfortunately, there's not much that could be done about the water in my eyes.



Fortunately, I had trusty lights and nobody ran me over.

And because this situation was clearly biased towards the positive, I still have more 'fortunately's left over to add:
Fortunately, it's only September, so it's quite warm and I wasn't uncomfortable even when slightly damp.
Fortunately, I was heading to home, not away from it, which makes getting wet rather irrelevant and actually kind of fun.

Last fall/winter/spring, I avoided the ran and went long periods of time without riding. The bus became, once again, my prison. This year, I refuse to...
a) avoid riding because of the rain, and
b) look frumpy and/or sporty in rain "gear" (rather than rain "wear") that I don't enjoy wearing.

Freedom! The way I see, I can choose to embrace the rain or I can whine about it. This is Vancouver, after all: it's part of culture, our way of life. There are chic rain options out there and I intend to find them. For once I'm actually looking forward to the rain so that I can take my new shiny red rain coat (red! shiny! raincoat!) for a spin.

Freedom in all weather. Bring it on!