Puddle Reflections

This morning in London it rained. Scratch that. It didn’t just rain, it dumped. Walking to work, my umbrella did little to shield me from the oncoming storm, or the dreaded bounceback of the rain pounding on the sidewalk.

But in true coastal style, London is now, just an hour after a torrential downpour, bathed in a heavy sun. A beautiful day to be out and about…as long as you can avoid the ginormous puddles that have spread throughout the city that is.

The following are four short scenes I came across today as I walked down the Queen’s Walk along the Thames from work to the LSE:

Scene the First: A girl in a white, flowery summer dress, Mr Whippy (a type of soft serve ice cream omnipresent in London, often served with a chocolate ‘flake’) in hand. Donning pastel turquoise Wellies (short for Wellingtons, a type of rain boot) she waded thoughtfully through a puddle that went well above her ankles, almost flowing into her boots. She stood transfixed at the movements of the water, the ice cream cone at a precarious angle.

Scene Two: Two young teenage boys walking briskly down the path. One was eating a sandwich prêt-a-manger. As they skipped over a puddle, he dropped the plastic container with half his sandwich still in it. He stood there cursing lightly as the sandwich became waterlogged. The other half, with one bite gone, he clung to forcefully.

Scene Three: Outside of a restaurant, tucked just off the main path were two workers out the back door. One was out for a cigarette break. He stood on a wooden crate over the puddle, puffing away, paying little head to his colleague. The other was navigating the puddle with two o’erturned bright blue plastic crates, standing on one, pushing the other through the puddle, jumping to it. Repeat.

Scene Four: A man jogging in too short shorts. As he climbed the stairs to the bridge, water spritzed out behind him creating a fine mist that floated slowly down as he passed me by.