Our second order of business should have been to purchase that rain gear I mentioned. Biking in the rain while holding an umbrella is okay - if you want to get KILLED! We almost found that out the hard way. Here's how:

On Monday we were scheduled to look at apartments with a local agency that we had been corresponding with while still in Canada. They had promised to pick us up, drive us around the city and show us some accommodations. Then they found out we had bikes. Apparently it would be easier to get around the city on a bike, so could we meet them in downtown Groningen at 2:00pm? That was no problem, because we thought we liked biking.

The weather Monday morning was windy and sunny, then windy and threatening to rain, then back to windy and sunny. At 1:00pm, we head out to Groningen. The wind was making it hard to bike - remember, our bikes have only one gear. But we want to get used to this biking thing, so we press on. It starts to sprinkle on us a bit. No problem. Plus, everyone around us is dressed in normal clothes without rain coats.

We view the apartment and arrange to see another place about 3 hours later. Instead of biking all the way back to our loft (45 minutes on the bike), we decide to head to downtown to kill some time. Right about then it starts 'piss pouring' rain as Brad would say.

I was wearing a down vest and turtleneck which was almost too hot to bike in. My only waterproof coat is my ski jacket which was sitting at home in my suitcase. Brad had on a useless jacket that seems to soak up the rain instantly. Did I mention that we are wearing jeans? Needless to say, we are soaked and immediately went downtown in search of proper rain gear.

Except we spent the next 3 hours looking because we don't know what stores sell rain gear. Where is a Walmart when you need one? We are weaving in and out of traffic, going the wrong way down one-way streets, and getting honked at by buses. I'm yelling at Brad "what happened to picking us up and driving us around the city?" He is yelling "watch out for that pedestrian." I can only imagine what it would have been like if I was trying to hold an umbrella.

When we finally found the shopping district, we were shocked at the high prices for the quality of product. It was a bit frustrating. That and figuring out European sizes. Eventually, we found a department store with a sale rack and did purchase some jackets. Mostly because I said that I wasn't biking home without one.

"We" are a bit happier now. How DID we manage to live in Vancouver for 5 years and not have proper rain gear?