75 Degrees

Post-ride pulled pork sandwich
and Prohibition Ale. Perfect.

I'm always more appalled than impressed by people in San Francisco who wear mini skirts, shorts or tank tops when it's 50 degrees and foggy outside. I see it more among women than men, which I suppose is  unsurprising yet puzzling, since women are usually the ones that want the thermostat turned up.

Personally I'm too curmudgeonly to put up with even a few minutes of feeling like a popsicle for the questionable satisfaction of showing off questionable assets to questionable audiences. Nothing makes me more cranky than being cold.

Except maybe being hungry. Or being subjected to loud motorcycles roaring past my window at three in the morning. Or slamming doors. Or 2-year-old future dictators of East Africa screaming until blood vessels pop in their forehead. Or people talking in shrill voices. Or entitled New Yorkers. Or trendy dance clubs full of drunk people dropping drinks on your feet.

Well, so lots of things make me cranky. Curmudgeon, that's me. The point is, in this town I like to stay bundled up most of the time, both to protect against the cold weather and to protect against the colder weather moving in later in the day.

But about once a year, San Francisco is sunny and 75 degrees for almost six hours in a row. Today was that day. I busted out a tank top and shorts, packed an extra hoodie, leggings, wind-proof jacket and beanie for later, and set off to Speakeasy Brewery. The entire city was outside in sundresses, shorts and wife beaters, all the tattoos on their arms exposed. There were lots of sunburns by dusk. Who thinks about putting on sunscreen when most days only your face and hands are exposed?

Warm weather somehow flips the gratitude switch to high. For those few hours of cloudless blue skies, I was in love with everyone I knew and everything I had and everything I was. I was accepting this magnificent gift from the universe. I had a beer in my hand, friends at my side, and sun warming my skin. I was joyful, breathing. Smelling, laughing. Present.