Latte from Aldo’s transported in fancy schmancy stainless steel coffee dealie
This morning I walked to work in -10° marveling at people’s preparedness and UN-preparedness for the weather, like the kid on a bike with nothing on his head, hat nor helmet; the guy running from the bus into the engineering building wearing a pea coat, and no hat or gloves; the 3 inches of exposed ankle on the left leg of the skinny student riding the skinny tire bike.
The coffee place at WID makes better lattes than the coffee place closer to my office, but when it’s this cold stopping there seems stupid because my hot drink won’t be hot by the time I get to my office. Today I planned ahead and brought this mini-thermos that Mark gave me for Christmas (re-gifting a public radio premium). It’s too heavy, but it did keep my latte warm.
Because I was stopping, I crossed the street at a crosswalk without a traffic light, timing myself to get across after this approaching little red car …. that stopped, and when I made a face, the driver – seeming to really want to make things worse, rolled her window down to ask me what was wrong. And revealed that the driver was second fiddle, assistant concert master in Madison Symphony Orchestra, a violinist who I have seen perform many times in chamber music ensembles in Madison. As soon as I said, “I was timing” she said, “oh, sorry”, rolled up her window and sped off. Unexpectedly nice.
