Cold weather and lots of rain starts to arrive around mid-September in Vienna. Being a native to Los Angeles, cold and rain are strange concepts to me.
Now I’ll openly admit, I just might overcompensate for the cold weather and rain. I bought waterproof boots because every single pair of shoes that I had from Los Angeles let water in.
I also went on a coat and sweater buying binge. I have five different coats and more sweaters now than I have had in my entire life.
When mid-September rolls around in Vienna, I start pulling my supplies out and piling them on.
Saturday was a good example of my overcompensation for cold, rainy weather. I went grocery shopping. I pulled on my jeans, a thick wool sweater, my waterproof boots and a raincoat. I grabbed my umbrella and my fashionably oversized purse and headed out. At the beginning of my walk to the grocery store, things were great. I felt the chill of the air and was grateful for my warm clothing. I walked a brisk pace and started to warm up. All of a sudden I was just a tad too warm. Well no matter. It doesn’t hurt to be too warm. Or so I thought.
Once I arrived at the store, I noticed that I needed to get organized. I had many things to deal with. I had an umbrella in one hand and my fashionably over-sized purse in the other. I was a bit stuck. To get a shopping cart, I had to find a coin to stick in a little slot that released the shopping cart from a chain. I stood there for a second and tried to figure out exactly how I was going to do this. I had a dripping umbrella in one hand, and a zipped purse in the other. I needed one hand to hold the purse and the other to rummage in it. I flailed about for a moment and then thought, to heck with it. I dropped my wet umbrella on the floor. This freed up the hand I needed to get the coin to get my shopping cart. Success!
I started making the shopping rounds. My earlier state of a tad too warm started to rise as I was in the store. My wool sweater was getting scratchy. I started moving faster through the store in hopes that I would get my shopping done faster. All of a sudden I felt sweat drip. Eeewww! I quickly finished my shopping and rushed to the checkout line. The checkout girl gave me a strange look as she noticed my damp, flushed cheeks.
Once I had my groceries I rushed outside to gulp in the cold, fresh air. Except that it was raining outside and one hand was busy carrying my groceries while the other was busy holding my purse. I needed to get my umbrella. I dropped my groceries on the floor and rummaged around my purse to find my umbrella. I opened it, balanced my purse and grocery bags evenly, and started to set off for home. My earlier sweaty state was rapidly dropping to a chilled cold as the sweat cooled my body in the outside temperatures. My grocery bags were banging around my knees, and I started to feel my paper grocery bag shift. Stupidly, I had left that one to hang outside the perimeter of my umbrella. My paper grocery bag was getting wet! The damn thing was going to rip! I picked up my step even more in the hopes of getting to my apartment before the bag ripped. But noooo! It had to rip. I knelt down in the rain to gather the bag from the bottom and balance it on my hip.
So I had a huge purse, a plastic grocery bag and an umbrella in one hand, and I had a torn, wet paper grocery bag perched on my hip and a plastic grocery bag in the other. And it was raining. And I was cold.
When I made it home, I went right into the kitchen and dropped everything on the floor. My apples from the wet paper bag rolled out but I didn’t care.
All I know is that I need a new system.
How I felt on Saturday
