No sooner had I posted the last entry when, boom, in stomped autumn, ready to open a can of whoop-ass. Today was cold, windy, overcast, dreary, and even drizzly at points. When I was in the area around Liberty and Fifth around noon, the streets were almost deserted. Nobody wanted to be out unless they had to be out. Campus was a confused-looking place. Students looked either harried, bewildered, or else determined to completely ignore the weather altogether, either by barreling through the wind and rain with their cell phones glued to their ears as though talking into them non-stop would make the weather go away, or by continuing to wear yesterday’s shorts and flip-flops and T-shirts, as though defiant apparel would do the same trick. This was probably the first time in four or five months that I really didn’t want to be outdoors if I could avoid it. I was wearing jeans and a long-sleeved shirt and was still underdressed. I sat on the church steps at State and William waiting for the bus tonight, and while the chill was not bone-deep yet, I definitely felt like Hans Christian Andersen’s Little Match-Seller. Yet there, across the street, strode an undergrad wearing his shorts and T-shirt, as though hoping that at 8.00 the weather would suddenly spring back to summery life. Such is youth.

The rest of the week’s supposed to be partly cloudy/sunny, according to the National Weather Service. We’ll see.