Umbrellas

Before anyone asks, no I haven't been playing Resident Evil. This topic is about real umbrellas.

For those who don't know, the umbrella has existed for more than a thousand years. I'm not sure exactly about its origins, but I know that the Japanese have been using them for an extremely long time. Though the designs and switches sometimes evolve, the umbrellas general structure and use remain the same -- first, to keep rain from hitting the body from above, and second, to block the rays of the sun on a summer day.

So, one might ask why an umbrella is still an umbrella after over a millenia. The answer is simple. Every Japanese person currently in existence possesses the innate ability to kill a person in one of three-thousand seven hundred and twenty different ways using only an umbrella. No really. It's true.

In my experience this week, it has rained several times. The rain has not been as harsh as upstate New York can get, but it has lasted for awhile. We're about to get a typhoon as well, so that won't help things this week. However, the point is that I've encountered many many people this week that are not only armed with umbrellas, but know how to use them.

I have seen umbrella-equipped people walking down the street and doing all kinds of various things: carrying groceries, carrying babies, eating, drinking, talking, reading, and riding bicycles even! And sometimes more than one of those at a time (mind you, while walking and holding an open umbrella). It's insane! These people really know how to use these things!