پادکست

Daily Errands

I’ve had a really busy day today. I rolled out of bed at around 7:00 AM, like every morning, and jumped in the shower. After brushing my teeth and shaving, I picked up my morning paper from the front sidewalk and started reading it. I like to eat breakfast when I read the paper, so I poured myself a bowl of cereal. At around 7:30, I went into my office and sat down to go over my to-do list. First, it was off to the post office to check my P.O. box. Then I went to the public library down the street to check out some books I’ve been meaning to read.

Next stop: the supermarket. My wife had given me a grocery list as long as your arm of things to pick up. I grabbed a shopping cart and got down to business. After I checked off everything on my list, I headed to the check out stand to pay for my items.

But I wasn’t done yet. I zipped over to the bank, where I had to make a deposit and withdraw some money from the ATM. Fortunately, the line wasn’t too long and I was able to get in and out quickly. My next stop was the pharmacy, where I needed to pick up my prescriptions. Finally, I headed home again. Now, I have to go to my real job!

Small Talk About the Weather

I admit that I’m not very good at small talk . When I’m with friends, I can just shoot the breeze all day long. But when I talk to a stranger or someone I don’t know very well, I’m always casting about, searching for something to talk about. Politics and religion are definitely taboo subjects, at least here in the United States. But you have to chat about something, otherwise there are these uncomfortable silences.

So we end up talking about –what else?– the weather. This usually begins with something like, “So, nice weather we’ve been having!” or “It sure is a warm one out there today.” Of course, we have to comment on the temperature. My favorite is, “It’s not the heat that’s so bad, it’s the humidity!” Actually, I think that’s true -I hate it most when it’s muggy outside.

Back in my home state of Minnesota, everyone is obsessed with the weather report! Every TV station has it’s own meteorologist with a high- tech radar giving you the 5 day forecast. They tell you when the temperature is rising or falling , what kind of clouds are moving in, and how cold the wind chill is.

My favorite quote about the weather comes from Mark Twain, who once said, that everybody talks about the weather, but no one does anything about it!