impetus

Maybe some sort of public service announcement is required for these people who try and resist the rain with coats and umbrellas. If you move fast enough, you don't get cold and don't get that wet. There is perhaps a little extra risk of slipping on a street corner which is why I prefer to go along the nice straight former railway or the gently-curvèd hill-path. They're always surprisingly empty in the evenings; evidently other mutant weirdo-people can go out earlier in the evening without getting a faceful of midges or overheating horribly.

Even stranger are the people who go out at lunchtime from the office: although the canal and river are reasonably close by there's an awful lot of pollution-filled street to get through first and it's not the nicest atmosphere to have to attempt to negociate when breathing deeply. The other issue I would have with running at lunchtime is that there is a risk of becoming the type of person who goes running at lunchtime in my office; at the moment I like to think I use the limited space with consideration when changing back into normal clothing to go for a lunchwalk whereas the runny people tend to take up all the available space, drip water all over the place (but especially over the bits which are supposed to be dry) and seem to be far too keen on extended primping, stretching, pruning and pandering in front of the mirrors. Barely a day can pass when one is not confronted by the bizarre sight of evidently fit and healthy but also extremely narcissistic gnomes with pronounced Short Bloke Syndrome performing (in addition to the normal run of pre-run stretches) entirely unnecessary upper-body tensing and flexing. In their underpants. If you're lucky. There's also their excessive use of body spray; some of them even spray it across their chests, evidently thinking they're in an advertisment. A half-second burst to each armpit of unscented deodourant is sufficient; ten-second sprays of horribly-perfumed stuff just makes everyone start coughing AND makes them smell like the ground floor of Fraser's too.

Still, they could be worse.