underpass

Another fractured night, eyelids weighed down as feet push against the heavy air determined to reach the coffee machine. It's the third espresso before things focus, the heat back over forth, the clock saying 0845, the app saying 41 degrees real feel, warning that this is as cool as it gets today; the skies clear but for slight strands of cloud hanging high, high, above.

Not a day for the hills. A metro ride and a bike, looping back around, following the river and cutting the angle through streets sweltering in the late morning, shimmering haze radiating from verticals and horizontals, umbrellas, now, offering shelter from the sun while clusters of figures congregate in shadows, stepping out in to the direct sunlight only when necessary.

Clouds appear in mid afternoon, gathering in heavy covering layered around sporadic blues; a deep and darkening sky glowering with the threat and promise of rain. But the moment passes on sudden winds, too high above to touch these breathless streets, carried south of the city, the only moisture here that of sweat.