Yeah, OK...so my antipathy for Houston ain't exactly a state secret. I don't like...no, I hate...Houston. It's a miserable, dysfunctional place barely fit for human habitation under the best of circumstances. Still, October and November here can feature some pretty amazing weather. Except for the monsoon the night I arrived last week, temperatures have been in the high 70s and low 80s with an abundance of sunshine and manageable humidity. This time of year almost makes the other 10 months bearable...well, not quite, but it's generally about 25 degrees warmer here than back in Portland. The period from the beginning of October through the end of April is what attracts people who would otherwise be up to the asses in snow drifts. While I'm still never going to plan on moving back here, I do appreciate the fact that the weather this time of year can be pretty amazing.
I suppose my frame of mind has been helped by the fact that the stress level this trip has been nowhere near what it was during my first trip. Gas is readily available, restaurants are open, traffic lights work, and most of the debris has been cleared. No, the Houston metropolitan area is nowhere near back to normal, but it's a damn sight better than it was when I first arrived, three days after Hurricane Ike. Traffic is back to it's usual daily clusterf--k levels, Houston drivers are back to beings dicks, and except for the piles of debris still waiting to be picked up, you almost wouldn't know that a hurricane trashed the area a bit less than six weeks ago.
Even better, the price of gas here has dropped precipitously. I've seen it as low as $2.35/gallon...and did you ever think a price like that would be something to celebrate? Nah, I didn't, either. Amazing what you can adapt to when there's no other option, eh?
OK, so I still hate Houston, but it's a damn sight more tolerable now than it is in, say, July or August. Even the mosquitoes seem to have taken a holiday. If it was like this all the time, I might even learn to like being here...but then there's the traffic and all the other things I hate about Houston. No, I don't think I'll be moving back here any time soon, but October in Houston does certainly have it's good points.
