Right!

If it looks like rain you won't care.

link: Stick Umbrella from Lands' End

I can't remember the last time I owned an umbrella. I think it was when I lived in New York, and there I never owned one very long. Back then, in the Mad Men era of the 60's, you could buy an umbrella in the subway for a buck or two and it would get you two, maybe even three blocks before the wind blew it inside out and you left it in the corner trash can. Which was usually enough.

But then, eventually, I acquired a car and when you have a car you don't need an umbrella so much. You just sort of dash.

But now I'm walking again and Spring is on the way. Last time I was a full-time walker I used a poncho on rainy days. Ponchos work fine, but in the summer they're hot and all year round they're vaguely disgusting, so I decided this time buying an umbrella was the way to go.

The problem is, real umbrellas, the kind you need when you are colonizing India or invading Normandy, are outrageously expensive these days. I've seen them listed for as high as $700 on the web; $400 would be a budget figure. And those little sawed-off ones you can buy at Walgreens for $5.00 - well, real men need real umbrellas, not runts.

So I was stumped until I found this baby at Land's End (link above). It's a serious umbrella with a real, wooden shaft. It's not enough to hold a charging rhino at bay, but it ought get me through the day. Today it's raining and I used it for the first time. It works just fine.