Saturday, January 16th, 2021

I have to zip up my hoodie for the first time this season. I have trouble finding the slider and fear that it may have broken off sometime. I carefully run my fingers up that side of the zipper. I find it at the top, nestled against the collar. The city square is chilly. I probably should have worn warm socks with my sandals, too. I’m sitting with an espresso from the corner shop with the ice cream freezers out front. I’m working my way through another chapter of the music text. It’s a quick read, but I keep stopping to think. Fewer people than usual are out now. It may be too cold for many. Dogs and their humans go past occasionally. Last week, it was mostly terriers. Today, I see a lot of what I think are Labrador retrievers. In the quiet of the afternoon, I spot things I hadn’t seen before. A sign says that the city’s first bus station was here, next to the square. Or maybe the square itself used to be the bus station. A box that I think controls traffic lights has what looks like an abandoned monitor on top of it. That turns out to be a solar panel. I don’t stay downtown for long. It’s too chilly. I make myself a new heuristic: when the temperature drops below fifteen, wear socks.