Travel

I flew from Portland to Boston today.  I wrote a blog entry about the hellhole that is air travel in a post-9/11, post-Nigerian Underwear Bomber, recession-pitted, gas crisis world (at least for those people who cannot afford first class), but the entry contradicts a couple of my 2010 resolutions: to write pithy, succinct blog entries (except when necessary not to), and not to whine.  That entry was long, and whiny.

Suffice it to say: even if you are at the airport at 5:40 a.m. (before even the Starbucks are open) make doubly sure to get checked in bags to the airline more than 45 minutes before the flight is due to leave (44 minutes -- even 44:30 minutes won't work -- the half minute I was late cost me over four hours in travel time, not to mention my reserved window seats).  And generally, air travel these days is a hellhole.

Continued Cold

I still am sniffling and sneezing, although meds work so well to suppress all symptoms that -- aside from spaciness -- I can almost forget at times that I have a cold.

But I cannot forget that it is cold.  It is refreshing to come to Minnesota for a week every winter and be reminded about true frigidity. The worst of it is its unending-ness.  Even though the temps go up 10°F or so from dawn to mid-afternoon, it is so deeply cold that the "warmth" isn't noticeable. It's just more of the same.

Or maybe it's the layers that are the worst. Today I've been wearing a silk camisole, a cashmere turtleneck and two wool cardigans, with a down vest over that, and a down parka over all the above much of the time. This is what cream must feel when it's whipped -- huge, fluffy, and full of fat.

Or maybe it's the ice, that is the worst.  The Cities were socked by a blizzard on Christmas, but then it warmed to above freezing and everything melted to slush. And then it got deeply cold, and snowed some more on the way down, and so now every outside surface is rutted with the worst kind of ice, slippery and thick. The roads are like driving on irregularly corrugated cardboard.

Or maybe it's the dryness, that is the worst.  I feel the moisture flowing out of my body. My skin is drawn and tight. My eyes are sandy (although some of that is due to virus). My fingertips are rough and flaking, and my lips are chapped red.

The photo above was taken by FrenchKate in answer to my post of yesterday. Captured from a webcam, it is a view of downtown Saint Paul.