Ah! The Rains after Sunshine

The drought in California is a known fact. The fire prone state has seen several major fires in its forests and populated areas last year. Early this year, we had to pack bags and run away from Santa Barbara to safer places. First to nearby Carpinteria where we spent one night. Afterwards, we sneaked closer to town, and passed two nights in a hotel closer to the watery ocean front, which, people said, would not be as much affected if the fire spread into the town.

So many houses had been gutted. The lovely green mountains had been scarred and left blackened by the devastation. A fear psychosis has become part of people who've lived here for long, now settled to the idea of the occasional fires as part of life. 

If it was not for my neighbour this year in May, when I saw for the firt time a forest fire's flaming tongues from the window of hour building, I'd have had an entirely different experience to talk about. She was kind enough to wait for me until I picked up my luggage, although I did not get time to change my clothes, and escorted me through the traffic jam and the blackening clouds that had shrouded the skyline that day.

This is the same neighbour who has been picking me up from my holiday job. And today, when I had an early morning shift, she dropped me too, in the midst of heavy rain. And when she arrived to escort me home after work, in the pouring rain, I hadrly had any words to thank her for all her help.

In both fire and rain, this neighbour has been with me. On the earlier occasion, my Equal Half was at work. And when he wanted to come to pick me up, he was caught up in the traffic jam like thousands of others. And today, in the rain, he is in Dallas for some work. If it was not for my neighbour, I would have had enormous inconvenience in this weather. Carrying my jacket, my umbrella, my water bottle, my googles in its case, my purse. etc etc.

It is like having a messiah come from heaven. Or a Good Samaritan.

Cycling uphill wasn't Easy

As I had promised my husband, an hour after breakfast, I got ready with my bicycle. Today was my action day. Some working up of the leg muscles had to be urgently done.

The wind was cold and strong, and at first I wished I had my full jacket on, instead of the down filled vest. I breezed through the neighbourhood lanes, looking at the world with my goggles protected eyes. The world wasn't rose tinted but dark, as was the colour of my glasses.

I'd found this pair after lot of searching, on a shelf in Big 5, and I had stuck to it. It was the right one for the dryness of eyes that I had to reckon with. The goggles were silver rimmed, but large and covered the eyes complately, and much of the forehead. Very little air could reach the eyes when I cycled wearing it.

When I came across CVS on State Street, I was compelled to stop. For long I had made a list of things I needed to get from there. There was no designated cycle parking spot. For the first time in the US, I was parking my bicycle and securing it with a lock.

CVS took some of my time, and when I was done, I wanted to explore the road to the library. But I could have waited a few more days, a few more cycling episodes, to be practised enough for such an uphill road. The return journey taught me a sweated lesson, as I had to stop at several places to catch my breath and push the cycle uphill. With a cruiser bicycle, such slopes are difficult to surmount.