I drove to work today. Partly because I’m the only one covering the office today and needed to be there as the doors opened, partly to accommodate a run to a meeting offsite (which itself got cancelled thanks to being the only one covering the office today), and partly because I was carrying one metric shit-ton of stuff to work (two laptops and a replenishment of my morning oatmeal supply). And the key to that loadout was the fact that it was 43 degrees when I left home this morning – but it’ll be about 60 when I get back and damn near 70 at lunchtime.
See, the problem is that 15-degree delta between Leaving Home and Returning Home, which is generally more of a 20-degree delta between Leaving Home and Going To Lunch. Thing is, when I lived in DC, that was less of an issue – in winter the delta was usually between 25 and 40 degrees, or else between 75 and 90 degrees. You either need no coat at all or a heavy coat all the time – only in spring and a tiny mid-autumn window did you have the problem of mid-40s to mid-60s.
The problem with Northern California is that its climate is basically Late April In Alabama twelve months a year. Which is to say it can be hot as balls, unseasonably cold (without snow!), or like it is now: cold as a brass brassiere in the morning and warm enough for no coat and short sleeves by lunchtime.
Because my shoulder has been playing up in recent weeks (and it’s a little disturbing to consider that I’ve been working on this shoulder off and on for over two years now), I have reverted from my Timbuk2 messenger to an older backpack suitable for putting over both shoulders and carrying my entire office in. (This was twelve and a half pounds until this weekend; with the switch to the MacBook Air it’s down under ten.) Said backpack is patently unsuitable to go over almost all my heavier apparel – the ridiculous suede jean-jacket, the peacoat – but my lighter outerwear isn’t really solid enough to hold up to walking to work in 42 degrees of a January morning. More to the point, nothing that can stand up to 42 degrees in the morning will stuff INTO the backpack for the 65 degree walk home at 5 PM.
So today I went with something lightweight since I didn’t actually have to wear the backpack. In days to come…maybe not. I still have yet to deploy the new Rickshaw X-Pac super-light messenger, which might well shave off another three pounds or so, and that would go over just about any jacket – but then we’re back to the problem of “any coat that’s warm enough in the morning is ridiculous in the afternoon.”
The obvious solution here – or so the natives tell me – is “layers layers layers.” However, there are a couple of problems with this. For one, when you work in an overly-warm building, you’re going to be shedding just as many layers as if you’d worn one big coat, and for another, what the layers get you is more things to stuff in the backpack, tie around the waist, etc etc – especially once precipitation comes into the equation. Not that it’s been a problem this winter, more’s the pity (rain in January = flush in August) but it’s something to keep in mind.
Nevertheless, it may be the only way to go. The heavy stuff which was far more suitable in Eastern winters pretty much has to go by the boards for workdays, barring a serious cold snap,* and the move has to be toward light weight and presentability, most likely with an increased use of T-shirts under the nice work shirt. In the long run, I think the move will be to go to the messenger bag over the good shoulder (I am assured that as long as it comes in under ten pounds, it’s not going to be a significant stressor) and most likely go with the old reliable black rain shell doubled with my WWDC hipster warmup thingy. Yep, layers. At least the WWDC piece crams up tiny and could get stuffed in the bag in a way that a wet shell couldn’t…
*BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA(gasp)BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA