Monday, April 28, 2008

Mostly sunny observations.

As a writer, I tend to be an observationalist (is that a cool word, or what). Sometimes this leads to snap judgements, usually followed by an 'in your shoes' reflection, and eventually, the mental filing away of character tidbits.
Here's what I observed yesterday:

11:00am weather report:
currently 11 C (roughly 52 F) with a high of 17 C (roughly 66ish F), mainly sunny with winds from the north.

I went to the grocery store around noon-time and quickly determined that there were generally two camps of dressers.
Camp #1: The summer-is-here, short-short and sleeveless top/t-shirt wearers. Crocs or sandals were the footwear of choice in 99% of the cases.
Camp #2: The I'm-not-convinced-summer-is-here-yet jeans and sweater and/or hoodie crowd.

Got me wondering...

Are the folks in Camp #1 hopefully enthuastic, naive, or stupid?

That north wind was chilly and even in my jeans, t-shirt and Crocs (I went for the cross-dresser approach), the goosebumps broke out.
Maybe they didn't check the weather channel and the sun beaming in their bedroom windows gave them a false-positive reading.

Or perhaps, if they did glance at the news, they thought it would surely climb above that predicted 17 degrees (the weather man often errs on the low side).

Or maybe they were so ultra-organized that they already put all of their cold-weather clothes away for the season (in their defense,... we have had awesome, hot weather in the last few weeks).

And what about the Camp #2ers...

Are they hardened cynics, realistic, or just plain savvy?

Did they check the weather and immediately translate that 'north wind' into 'hoodie'?

Or did they simply step outside wearing shorts and halters and say, "WTF?!" and run back in the house to change?

Or just maybe, unlike their uber-organized counterparts, have they not yet dug the warm-weather clothes out of the Rubbermaids?

And what about me?
The jeans were on my bathroom floor and within easy reach. The t-shirt was on top of the laundry basket and I slipped on my Crocs because I was too lazy to bend down and untie my sneakers.

I expected to roast, instead froze,...

and didn't check the weather until I got home. ;)

Hmmm... hard to pigeon-hole people at the end of the day, eh?? ;)

11 comments:

Kathleen Oxley said...

Hmmmm. Interesting questions, and great observations! I tend to wear jeans all summer - I don't mind being warm, and it hides the fact that my skin refuses to tan.

And yes, love observationalist!!

Anonymous said...

Speaking as a year-round camp #1 person, I think it's always best to dress according to what you want the weather to be... within reason.

Leah Braemel said...

I'm definitely in Camp #2 ... which for means it's all about comfort, baby.

I hate being cold. I dislike being wet (it's raining today so I wore a spring jacket with a hood so I wouldn't get wet). I'll wear whatever it takes to keep me comfortable, screw what the fashionistas say.

Karen Erickson said...

I wear less layers since I had my last child. For whatever reason my internal temperature has risen considerably and every time I dress for the cold I get unbearably hot! It sucks.

But then sometimes I'm one of those optimists who wears flip flops and jeans and a t-shirt and end up feeling as if my toes will fall off. :)

Amy Ruttan said...

I think that I am the type that once the summer type weather hits I jump in.

I don't care. I AM NOT wearing socks again. Nope not going to do it.

I did wear pants today. But no socks, nope not going to happen again until the fall.

Be prepared. ;)

Kimber Chin said...

I haven't rotated my clothes yet.
Too darn lazy to.
I have 3 days left in this contract
before a summer off,
I insist on wearing my autumn clothes.

Anonymous said...

LOL! Well, we've had some warm (shorts and t-shirt) weather here in TN, but right now, we're having a little cool snap, so for me, it's jeans and t-shirts. But I've got the hoodies and fleece shirts put away until the cold weather comes back... well, with the exception of one fleece shirt, which I've given to my big floofy Alpha cat to sleep on b/c he loves it so much! :)

Shelley Munro said...

LOL - I'm usually in the camp that gets it wrong because I never check the weather forecast. I've only just pulled my jeans out of the cupboard but still wear my shorts when I go out for a bike ride or walk. It's unbeliveably humid here at the moment, despite the storms lashing the country at the moment.

I know from experience to bring some warm clothes for San Francisco. It was mid-summer last time we were there, and I almost froze. I hope it's warmer this time!

Anonymous said...

I like to thank group #1 is just optimistic. I have learned that I do dress warmer with age. The shorts have gotten longer and no halters for me. Do cold feet come with age? It is hard to resist the sandals and flip flops though.

M. said...

switcheroo complete for all three juniors - no energy left for my own closet. will probably stay that way until early august or so, by which time i'll rationalize that it's not worth the effort because fall will be around the corner.

Julia Phillips Smith said...

I don't really put away seasonal clothes - they just go lower on the shelves. Because I'm in the Maritimes, we can get any weather, any time of day, any season. We layer out here. Easy on, easy off.