"April showers bring May flowers." If that's the case, last night's rain should have helped kick start the growing process.
I awoke before the 4:30 a.m. alarm went off because it was absolutely pouring. I laid there and thought how much fun it was going to be to deliver papers in a down pour. I had about 15 minutes left before I had to get up and thought 'what the heck', just get up now.
I wrapped the papers in their little plastic rain bags, pulled on my knee high rubber boots and grabbed one of those handy dandy rain ponchos in a bag. There is a reason why you don't put a plastic bag on your head and I was nearly in panic mode before I found the opening for my head in the poncho.
The rubber boots proved to be a wise choice, on the third stop the water had pooled on the sidewalk to a depth of about 4 inches. Something I didn't see in the dark and would have swamped my tennis shoes right off the get go.
I was beginning to doubt my choice of the rain poncho. It worked fine to keep me from getting soaked to the bone, but it had some wardrobe malfunctions. The first being the attached hood. It may have worked better if the wind hadn't been blowing but every time I got out of the car, I had to hold the hood in one hand, gathered under my chin, to keep it on my head. Whilst in the car, it had no problem staying on, but like most articles of clothing with a hood, they don't move with your head. Looking left and right, just in case some other nut case was out running the streets that early, allowed me to look inside the hood. Luckily it was transparent so I could see oncoming headlights. I also discovered, after about the sixth stop that my face was wet enough and I could stick the hood to my cheeks while driving and it would stay put.
Since the ponchos are a one size fits all, there is ample room in one for myself and possibly eight other people. The wind would travel up the bottom of the poncho, completely defeating its purpose of keeping me dry. At one stop, with a wide open exposure to the north, I nearly had a fight with myself trying to keep the poncho from becoming air born. Talk about not being able to fight your way out of a paper sack, I was beginning to think I would make the headlines of the next day's paper....."Woman Found in a Poncho Straight Jacket". Had it been closer to Halloween, I could have been the translucent Grim Reaper, minus the sickle.
By the time I returned home, I wasn't too worse for wear. My sleeves were pretty soaked from the elbow down, but for the most part, the poncho did its job. The cloth seat of my car is another story.
My shenanigans of delivering papers will soon be coming to an end, I've given them my notice and only have about 3 weeks left. They aren't very happy with me and I don't blame them, it's hard to find somebody who wants to work. I should have known better to take something else on and it bothers me that I've given up so quickly. I'm sure when I get the bill for when my car broke down, I won't feel so bad about quitting, as it will probably far exceed what I've made during this endeavor.
Lesson learned and the next time my husband growls about the paper not being here on time, he can go uptown and get one his own self.
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