A DEAD BATTERY...





...is what the car had this morning when it was time to drive downtown to teach.

(This would be the same battery that died due to neglect when I was in India. It is the same one Dreyfus tried to resurrect at his house last night. It is now officially out of commission).

It was difficult to walk to the nearest intersection, as the entire world was covered in ice this morning. Again. This time it was even thicker and slicker than usual. So I avoided the treacherous sidewalks and took the high road - walking in the middle of the street.

The cab I caught drove 15mph the entire way downtown. Even on Lake Shore Drive. Despite the generous road salt.



* * *






Later, I took the Ravenswood El (elevated train) back north to teach the day's final class.






The glowing box on the right serves as a heat lamp for frozen passengers.







This is what's left of the Cabrini Green public housing complex.





The Ravenswood or Brown Line runs entirely above-ground, and provides some excellent views of the city's backside.










Everything looked quite painterly today due to the combination of rain, fog and blurry CTA windows.









There were also very few people around.






So it looked (and felt) like a ghost town.

















* * *



Later, Sport Marty showed me how to install a new car battery, which turns out to be a lot easier thank you'd think (as long as you don't lose the nuts that hold it all together).