mad at the weather, yet hopeful...?

I go to work late and usually stay late. This afternoon, I got to the office around lunchtime, and the afternoon sun was hot. This felt more like the tail-end of summer than the tail-end of fall. Is this Korea's version of Indian summer? No idea. I had on my new windbreaker/raincoat, yet another gift from my boss (who has given me many, many gifts over the years, probably to bribe me to stay with the company), and I felt stupid for wearing it. When I finally left work tonight, I put the jacket back on, thinking it would finally be cold... but no, it was still short-sleeve weather—mildly cool, and that's all. What the hell is going on? (I can hear my liberal friends offstage, all screaming, Climate change!)

Anyway, this got me thinking: we're almost halfway through November, and if it's still warm like this at the end of the month when I restart my walk, well, that'll be nice: the weather won't be that bad, and I can finish the final eleven days of the walk fairly placidly.

This might end up being a fantasy, though. If today's weather really is Indian summer, it's going to end soon, and the end of November is nineteen days away. A lot can happen in nineteen days, especially as fall transitions into winter. Plus: even though I'll be picking up my route in Daegu, which is warmer than other parts of the country, I'll be leaving the city soon after. Once I reach Sangju and break east for Andong, it'll be nothing but farms and small towns until I'm at Andong City. Without the waste heat of the big cities to protect me, I suspect it's going to be a mite chilly, so I'll have to prepare accordingly, especially when it comes to protecting the top of my head, my face, and my hands, especially my poor fingers, which can feel frozen even through two pairs of gloves if I'm not careful.

Another thing to remember is the need to keep my tech warm. Cold is the enemy of batteries; if I take my phone out too often when it's cold, I may experience a quicker-than-normal power drain. I had that happen to me during a simple 25K walk to Hanam City, next to Seoul. This was before strokes and heart attacks, so I could walk that distance in about five hours, and in that short time, I lost power in my phone and my portable charger. Since then, I've learned to keep my tech bundled close to my own person so it can benefit from body heat, with only occasional forays into the cold to snap the odd picture.

But the prospect of biting cold doesn't feel real right now. After today, it feels as if the walk might be unusually warm. Well, I guess we'll see soon enough. As always, the one thing I really hope doesn't happen is a cold rain. I've talked many times about how this is, without a doubt, the worst weather for me: it saps the morale. A cold rain would suck leprous donkey balls. But I'll try to prep for that, too, as a possibility. Leukotape to the rescue! Preferably before the irritations become blisters this time! Yes, I'll be pre-taping thoroughly.