Change in the Weather

OK, so I know I've been less than chatty lately, but I've been keeping pretty busy. There's so much going on right now, what with the Miers nomination, the Plame leak investigation, the Iraqi referendum, the pending trial of Saddam Hussein, etc., and I don't have anything particularly original or interesting to say about any of it.

What I do have something to say about is the changing weather. It's fall--or autumn, for readers in the British Isles. Here in D.C., We've had our first cool days, and the evening temps are dipping to around 50 degrees F (no idea what that is in C; sorry). The funny thing is how people in D.C. treat the arrival of cool nights and warm days. They start dressing for cold weather. I've seen more than one person wearing gloves/mittens on the Metro. It's in the fifties or low sixties during my commute, and some people are wearing parkas. I'm serious. Parkas with fur-lined hoods. Plenty of scarves, used as more than a fashion accessory. Lots of fall/light-winter jackets. (I'm still in shirt sleeves, suit jacket on a hanger on the back of the office door.)

This weekend on the C & O tow path, I saw a number of people running in tights, long-sleeve shirts, even sweatshirts. Multiple layers. It was in the mid-sixties.

Two points:

(1) Lots of people dress by the calendar rather than by the temperature. So it's October 18, time to break out the turtleneck sweater. Even though the high this afternoon will be 78 degrees F. The same with running gear. OK, it's October, time to break out the long-sleeve running tops, the tights.

This is a strange (to me) phenomenon, but it's pretty common.

(2) Growing up in Michigan (granted, it was southern Michigan, but it's still north of most places; still, it's not the Twin Cities or anything) and having lived for seven years in Cleveland, I'm used to cold weather. I recognize that many people were not blessed with a Michigan childhood during the late 1970s, during some of the coldest/snowiest winters in U.S. history. They didn't ice skate, and sled, and build snow forts. They've never been ice fishing, which for my money is the number one coldest activity, other than diving in Antarctic lakes (which people actually do, btw; I read about it once; brrr). They haven't trained for a marathon during a Cleveland winter; they've never finished a 20-mile run in a driving blizzard (now that was fun).

So, many people are much more cold-sensitive than I am. And that's OK. I just feel sorry for these people when it actually gets cold.