Rickshawing in the rain

I recently got a shout out from the American Meteorological Society's blog in response to this post. (Executive summary: I jokingly speculated that the wisdom of pedicabbies may somehow factor into the algorithms that meteorologists use to predict the weather. The AMS blogger affirmed that meteorologists do in fact pay attention to the observations of pediabbies as part of their data collection process.) I guess this makes sense, right? If being out in the weather a lot qualifies you, then we pedicabbies should be experts.

Speaking of being out in the weather, this brings to mind a question that I get asked a lot: "What do you do when it rains?"

In these four months that I have been working outdoors full time, I have not missed a single day's work because of the weather. And don't forget, this is New Orleans we're talking about! There have been plenty of days when I didn't manage to get in a full eight hour shift, but I've always showed up for work. Even on the wettest of days there have always been enough breaks in the rain to give me brief windows in which to ride.

As long as I can keep luring people onto the trike, I try to keep moving. The week before Mardi Gras I took a couple on a 20-minute ride in a downpour so fierce if felt as if there were a big fire hydrant in the sky hovering over our heads.

We have two types of canopy available to cover the passenger seat. One is open at the front, and doesn't really offer much protection; the other is a zip-up cocoon kind of thing that is quite an ordeal for riders to get into and out of. With both types, the added wind resistance is like having another 200 pound passenger on board all the time. Naturally, it takes time and effort to mount the canopy and take it down. All that to say that I hardly ever bother to use a canopy anymore. After all, if I don't get any protection on the front seat, why should the guys on the back, right?

If the weather gets bad enough that I can't get anyone on board, then I take cover and wait it out. If I'm lucky enough to be in range, I try to make it to Riverfront Restaurant on Decatur, where they give me free coffee, and the waitresses spoil me. "What can I get you, sweetheart?" they say. "Would you like a refill on that coffee, darling?" (It's a New Orleans thing, I think.)

On rainy days I often struggle to remember why I like this job so much. Sometimes I barely make enough money to cover the cost of fuel for the commute back and forth across the lake. The worst part is the cold. You have no idea just how cold 50 degrees Fahrenheit -- or even 60  or 70 for that matter -- can be until you're out in it and soaked to the skin for hours at a time! As long as I stay dry, it's not hard to combat the cold; I just start pedaling furiously, and pretty soon I'm generating my own heat. But when I get drenched, the only thing that helps is to go home and take off my wet clothes and soak my already wrinkled skin in a steaming bath.

Of meterologists and movie makers

The American Meteorological Society is holding their annual convention in New Orleans this week. Late this afternoon I picked up a convention-goer, and as he settled into the seat, he asked me: "Is it going to rain this evening?"

I started to give him my best guess when I remembered who he was. I whirled around in my seat to look at him in disbelief. "Seriously? You're asking ME?"

Looking back on the incident, I'm wondering if he was collecting data for the forecast. Maybe they factor the intuition of pedicabbies into it or something.

Speaking of the forecast, it was supposed to rain today. A couple of times during the course of the day, it acted like it was actually going to start up, but it never amounted to much. I did get a good drenching, but not from Mother Nature. They were filming a movie (Now You See Me) in the French Quarter, and they had this big rain machine creating quite a downpour at the front of Cafe du Monde off and on all day.

The movie people and the New Orleans police department were working together to control the flow of traffic past the spot. I started getting angry because every time I went that way they would let a bunch of cars go, including those that were behind me in line, but they wouldn't let me pass for a really long time. It seemed totally unfair until I finally figured it out. Cars passing in the background would presumably make the scene look natural and authentic; but a big yellow tricycle pedaled by a 45-year-old with freakishly large calves might draw all the attention away from Morgan Freeman, Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, and Mark Ruffalo. You can't blame them really.

You've heard that Mark Twain quote about how everyone always talks about the weather but no one does anything about it, right? Well we've got several thousand people in town who have gathered from across the nation to spend four days talking about the weather. (At least, I assume that's what they're talking about).  Meanwhile, just a mile or two down the river, we've got movie makers who are actually doing something about it -- albeit on a fairly small scale.

By the way, the movie's supposed to be out in January of next year. I can't wait to watch it and look for the scene where I'm not there.