Gloomy Friday

We’ve made it to another Friday. It’s the working persons favorite day of the week. That is, unless you work one of those 4 day on, 3 day off schedules, then I have no idea what your favorite day of the week is. It’s definitely mine, followed shortly by Saturday. Sunday? Debatable.

We’ve been in a weather funk all week here in Northeast Indiana. It’s been a constant barrage of heavy rain, strong winds, and thunder since the beginning of the work week. We sheltered in place Monday due to a tornado warning. Fortunately nothing touched down, but we did discover that our basement window flooded and watered a Rubbermaid container filled with Lego parts our son left behind when he moved. The parts stayed dry(thanks, Rubbermaid), but the manuals didn’t fare as well. They were in a cardboard box on top and got soaked.

The next day we got an equal amount of rain, so of course the window flooded and we went through it all over again. This window has been flooding for years. It’s partially because the gutters get clogged from all the pine tree debris, but also because I think we need new gutters. Going to try a new cover over the window. If that doesn’t do anything then I guess we’ll be sopping up water until we get new siding/guttering. At least this window is on the unfinished side of the basement.

Until new gutters appear, we’ll have a raincoat and a bucket on hand for the next water-pocalypse.

All this lousy weather has got me kind of in the dumps. I love some overcast sky days, but those need to take place in October/November and with steely gray clouds, slight wind, and around 55 degrees. October weather is my spirit animal. It’s where my head is most of the time anyways.

I’ve always loved those brisk, dark-ish days where the world sort feels in slow motion; where you feel like you’re the last person in Suburbia, walking neighborhood streets in search of something you can’t quite put your finger on. Music in my ears(almost always Boards of Canada, or something eerie, contemplative, and melancholy), and thoughts trailing back to the early 80s and my childhood. Fall days in a Chicago Bears jacket(my brother and I had matching ones) and a knit hat rummaging amongst the 40-year old pines behind our house. Maybe I’m with some neighbor kids and we’re on our dirt bikes riding kid-made trails in the woods. Or maybe I’m by myself deep in thought about school, what was for dinner, or the next Star Wars or GI Joe action figure I wanted. Maybe I was thinking about my birthday that was only less than two months away, and what sort of cake I wanted. What friends I’d invite over for a sleepover, and what toy I wanted to ask for(or what cassette tape once I hit 5th grade.)

I’d also find myself thinking about my parents, my brother and his many misadventures as a high schooler leaving sports behind in lieu of rock and roll and partying. As a lifetime worrier I’m sure I’d be trying to work out issues in my head on this cool fall days as well. The occasional parental fight, or some girl I liked at school that I could never get myself to talk to or tell her how I really felt.

The October walk was for contemplating both the mundane and existential.

As I’ve gotten older I’ve lost my lustre for summer, and in-particular the heat of summer. And I don’t care what you believe, it’s getting hotter thanks to what we’ve done as humans over the last 70 years. The industrial revolution was indeed revolutionary, but unfortunately it’s also become an industrial demolition in terms of climate and weather. Sure, we had 90 degree days in the 80s. And we had torrential downpours, too. But not weeks of them. We’ve had more traumatic weather in the last three months than we would have over the course of three summers when I was young. It’s a fact, and it’s not cyclical. It’s inevitability because of the damage we’ve done to our atmosphere. And thanks to wildfires traveling thousands of miles we now know what a nuclear winter would be like(hint…it would not be good.)

So you can call me a curmudgeon, I’m good with that. But just take summer away early and bring me some fall weather. I’m ready right now. I’ve got some jackets I’m dying to start wearing(not the Chicago Bears one.) And I’ve got some Boards of Canada to listen to.

Enjoy your Friday, or whatever day is your Friday.