The image below is a snapshot of my commute this morning. Now I’m sitting at work with a foul demeanor in soaked jeans/shoes praying that the green tea with honey I just drank will prevent a cold.

Rainy Day

The storm totally suckered me. The radar was clear when I left the house so it wasn’t raining at all when I started my commute and still wasn’t by the time I exited the subway in midtown. Oh no, it waited until I hit Central Park which was too late to do anything about it except open my small umbrella and keep walking. I can’t blame my wet condition on just the storm though, hubris and the Central Park Zoo had a little something up their sleeve for me as well.

The path I choose to take in the Park passes through the Central Park Zoo. I’ve never had a problem getting through the zoo until today. The caretakers had used a trash can and some “Caution” tape to block the path near the entrance to it. Everything looked safe so I ignored the warning by stepping over the tape and continuing on my way. Meanwhile the rain is picking up and starting to tax the abilities of my umbrella to keep me dry.

Caution tape is weak and can be ignored but several hundred yards further along at the zoo exit was a locked iron gate that could not and would not be ignored. And why did I encounter the locked gate? Because the thunderstorm that passed through overnight had caused a huge mudslide on the path just inside the exit and the aforementioned caretakers were busy hosing it off.

The situation demanded an f-bomb due to the unpleasant realization that I would have to backtrack all the way to the caution tape in the, now very steady, downpour. Me and my hubris would like to apologize to the tape for our foolish ignorance.

The only good to come out of the whole experience was the jogger that I saved from the same fate as me. She chose to ignore the caution tape also by stepping over it just about the time that I was getting back to it. I informed her of the situation and she altered course with a “Have a good day!” for my help. I suppose that’ll have to wait till my pants dry.

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