Cold Day

It was so bitterly cold today that I waited until sunrise to walk to my bus stop in the mad hope that it would be marginally warmer then 3 degrees below zero. I was rewarded with -2 degree temperatures and my favorite on bus entertainment.

My favorite meth addicts were back on the bus today, bundled up and the conversation was rocking. Literally – it centered around one man's “vintage” Pink Floyd t-shirts, circa 2002, which he intended to leave to his children and his (female) companion's tenuous connection to an autographed Keith Richards guitar, complete with pick. Her Keith Richards-guitar-story set the man off on a rant about how hard David Bowie is on his guitars and how amazing it is that Bowie is able to get any sound out it. From that he segued into how much of hack Keith Richards is as a guitar playing, stealing riffs and techniques from other players and that, essentially, he “sucked”.

During my mercifully brief walk to my office, I reflected on the idea that a t-shirt could be an heirloom and wondered if one purchased in 2002 could actually count as “vintage”. Downtown Pittsburgh was so empty and so cold that I abandoned the notion of stopping at Starbucks and headed straight to my office.

I also elected to skip the gym in favor of getting home before the temperature dropped even further with the setting of the sun. Back in my house, I turned up the thermostat and made a mug of hot tea, grateful that my furnace was still working and my pipes were unfrozen, unlike one of my hapless co-workers.

Now the house is warm, Lucy is snuggly and I just finished half listening / half watching Rick Sebak's goofy documentary Sandwiches That You Will Like. Which I have on DVD.* The extras include the "Mystery" made by the now defunct Chiodo's Tavern.**

* I also purchased the companion cookbook.
** The tavern is now a parking lot for a Walgreen's.