random thoughts – Day 1,598 – (Friday) – storms and such

Work was another head splitter of a day. For the second full day, most of my time was spent on one project that, after languishing for a couple weeks, was suddenly hurtling towards the finish line. By 3:00 today, my eyes felt like the characters in the cartoons with the pinwheels for eyes and my head felt like it would split open like a watermelon dropped on the sidewalk. Good times.

Window art on John Street.

Shortly after 5:00, the walk to the garage was under another gray and cloudy sky. I did the usual scan of the street. It’s a pre-emptive strike kind of thing. The scan started years ago in an effort to avoid being asked for money by the same dudes every day on the walk between garage and office and before and after work. Now, there are also clusters of teenagers who block the sidewalk in front of the bakery. They never ask for anything, they just take up all the space and it’s hard to navigate through the little crowd. I scan the block and if there is a cluster of teens blocking the sidewalk in front of the bakery, I cross the street a block before reaching the spot. 

Today’s teen cluster was different. There were a dozen or more straddling bicycles. I crossed early and kept an eye on the sidewalk across the street. The cluster filled the sidewalk from the bakery, across the front of an empty storefront with a for rent sign in the window, and partially blocking the Bani restaurant entrance.

As I turned onto John Street and paused to take a picture of the painting in a window, the teens activated. Suddenly they were pedaling furiously down the middle of Merrimack Street like a street team peloton, took the left turn, and strung out down the middle of John Street. They popped wheelies and took another left and disappeared onto French Street. I fumbled the camera buttons and had to unlock the phone again and missed getting a photo when they were passing in their optimal cluster formation. By the time the camera was open again, it was nothing but the mischief-making stragglers.

The storm approaches.

Meanwhile, the clouds were darkening overhead. The gloom factor was building. By the time I hit the lights at the University Avenue bridge, the drama in the sky was building.

My timing ended up being good. A few minutes after arriving home, the rain began. It was another heavy downpour that accumulated in the driveway and the street. There were distant rumbles of thunder. 

The storm blew through quickly, like the kids on the bikes. Kiki came out of hiding from behind the couch and the pounding in my head subsided. All is well.