drenched

The Friday before Sepat hit, I awoke to find blue skies and reasonable temperatures (i.e., not in the 90s and humid). I thought to myself - yes! It's the calm before the storm - I can squeeze in my walk along the riverfront before being holed up in my apartment for god-knows how long until the storm passes. So, on with the sneakers and out the door I went. As I headed out, I noticed some clouds beginning to swirl over Taipei, but they didn't look like they were threatening rain, so I continued on. However, as I approached my turn-around point, the skies grew more threatening. I turned back a touch early and picked up the pace. Fairly soon after I started heading back, a light drizzle began to fall. I thought, well, I can handle this. I was still about an hour out and knew that if the rain really began to fall, I was just plain up shit's creek. The drizzle dissipated, leading me to believe I would make it back in time after all. However, the drizzle soon started up again, and this time rather than fizzling out it only grew stronger. And when rain falls in Taiwan, it really falls. It's like the heavens unleashing a watery wrath upon the island. I was still at least a 30-minute walk from home. So at this point, with the rain pouring down and quickly soaking through my clothes, what else could I do... but sing! (Yes, I really am this cheesy - especially when I'm completely by myself on a lonely bike path being drenched by an outer rain band of a typhoon.)

Unfortunately, my lonely walk was not to remain lonely forever. As I neared the top of a short hill which ran underneath a bridge, I came upon a man. Now, it's not unusual to see people hanging out under the bridge, especially if it's raining. They wait there for the rain to subside. However, this man was unusual in that he was wearing no pants. That's right. So it was me, the rain, and the pantless man. I hurried on, careful not to look at him too closely as to give him any ideas and also careful to glance over my shoulder after I passed to make sure he wasn't following me. Luckily, he turned out to be just a harmless man standing under a bridge in the rain without his pants.

Needless to say, I was just a little wet by the time I reached home.