On average I feel fine

I once read a cartoon or quote that said “A statistician is a person who can stand with one foot in a bucket of icy water and the other in a bucket of boiling water and say ‘On average I feel fine’!”

It’s starting to get quite chilly in the mornings, so I rug up before I get on my bike. I’ve been wearing my big black fluffy polar fleece top most mornings, my fingerless gloves have been used more than once and are about to become a permanent feature (and I’m going to have to purchase some proper gloves … and a scarf too), and I think the beanie is about to be added to the cycling wardrobe (although this is going to add a whole new—and unpleasant—dimension to “helmet hair”).

Having thus attired myself, however, I then work up some warmth and a bit of a sweat as I power my way to work. So the blood is starting to circulate and I’m feeling kind of warm, while at the same time the wind freezes the end of my nose and manages to bite its way through the layers of clothing that are making me perspire, thus freezing the sweat to me. I understand a little what Antarctic explorers must feel like.

When I arrive at work, where the central heating has the room at a nice toasty temperature, I’m simultaneously melting and freezing all at once, and not entirely sure how many layers of clothes I am going to need for the next five minutes or the rest of the day (suspecting that the answer is different for each case).

On average, however, I feel fine.