Walking to Surreality

It was pouring down rain yesterday, but I was really stir crazy after being in the house all weekend, so I decided to walk to work. Rain isn't a problem if you have the right gear in Portland — wide brimmed waterproof hat, lightweight rain jacket, waterproofed shoes and rain pants.

It's the rain pants most people neglect when they go out in the pouring rain, but not being soaked to the bones from the waist down makes up for the annoying {swish}{squeak} noise the pants make each time you take a step.

The roads are all rutted in Portland from cars with snow tires -- the constant grinding action of little steel pin on bare pavement creates two troughs that sluice the water into endless puddles which the stream of cars kicks up in a continuous waist high shower. A garden hose with a fan spray couldn't provide such a consistent stream of water if only because this spray, though it comes and goes in pulses, is steady along every sidewalk in town.

But those rain paints make it all cool. Okay, 'cool' is really subjective when you're wearing plastic pants, but the torrential rain from the heavens above and the nasty spray from the ground below all fell harmlessly off my plastic coated clothing.

The nice thing about Portland is that you can get away from the sidewalks and the streets. Those waterproof trail shoes come in handy when you live in a town that has 'sun breaks' because rain is the norm and the trails are muddy tracks as often as not. Getting off the street gets me away from the smell of fumes, the constant sound of cars slogging through the flooded trenches, and, of course, the spray.

And I always seem to find something interesting hidden away in the places away from the sidewalks and motorways. Yesterday it was this tower that I assume is an old pumping station on the Willamette River. It still has power, and looks moderately maintained, but it has the look of a 19th century version of a medieval turret. The muddy water shooting out the pipe in the distance made me think of Willy Wonka's chocolate river, and with everything muffled by the sound of rain and water, it was one of those surreal moments that I love to find in Portland.

I find myself using the analogy of Harry Potter's Diagon Alley at times like this (as much as I hate referencing Harry Potter). There are lots of little pockets of reality (or surrealism) tucked away and walking in Portland. Especially at the times that no one else would venture out, it seems to be a little easier to find your way into those other parts of the world, away from the splashing cars and exhaust pipes.

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If you liked this, you might want to read my blog about Walking to work in the snow that I wrote a couple years back…