The Fog That Turns People Inside Out

Today my sister and I were supposed to participate in The Amazing Hunt [604], it would have been a lovely day for it but Executive Producer Bill Lin had the right idea in mind when he postponed today’s race a couple of weeks ago. There were power outages, winds destroying forests, sleet and snow pelting the West Coast. Bill called to let me know of the race postponement and that it will now be held on February 10th. Little did we all anticipate, today turned out to be quite lovely.

My sister and mother picked me up and we went over to Tinseltown to catch The Queen. Upon our arrival we noticed an abundance of handicapped parking spaces in the parkade, I’m talkin’ like 20 within the first 5 minutes of driving around in there. When we got upstairs the fire alarm was going off in the building. After arriving at the cinema’s level it shut off, but it then sounded sporadically for the next hour or so. The movie we paid to see had to be canceled and we got a rain check.

I returned home and asked John to take me for a walk, if I wasn’t going to see a movie today I might as well get out n’ about and enjoy the non-rain in this city. We headed into the Park, our default walking location. We surveyed the cleanup from the storm, which is happening slowly. The big tree in Coal Harbor that had fallen across the Sea Wall (before you reach the rowing club) hasn’t been moved. I suggested to John that it’s probably kept there for tourists, which by the look of the dozen people posing and taking pics of the thing, proved to be an accurate observation. We strolled across to the north side of the park and ducked in to the Beaver Lake trail, which is partly clear… we only dodged one ‘do not enter’ barricade.

It was great to see the lake with actual water in it. In August it’s just a big lily pad-covered mud pit. The ducks were out to greet us and we ventured down the first path that seemed to lead somewhere and was remotely clear of stumps and debris. As we turned south we noticed fog was creeping in. It was pretty strange that it appeared in so quickly, especially as we emerged from the forest at the Rose Garden, which then looked like a misty graveyard, littered with dead bits of trees and foliage.

The city had now disappeared under a grey blanket. As we left the park at Lost Lagoon it was now eerily quiet except for the sound of a panting jogger’s footsteps coming up behind us. The entire mood of our walk shifted and we just wanted to get home. Our pace quickened and our hands froze.

I will get to watch a movie today after all, since we’re now in the mood for something a little spooky. I’m sure under any other circumstance I wouldn’t be able to sleep after watching some fear-instilling flicks, but with all the fresh air and exercise I’ve had today, I’m sure it won’t be a problem.