WINTER HAS COME

Dear Diary,

During my travels in the past month, I've found the following park restrooms closed by day:

Magnuson Park - Restrooms near the 74th St entrance

University Playground

Green Lake Park - Community Center

Green Lake Park - Bathhouse Theater

Woodland Park - Leo Lassen (cloverleaf) Fields

Licton Springs Park

Bitter Lake Playfield

Northacres Park and Playfield - playfield side, men's room only

Jackson Park - cafe

Maple Leaf Reservoir Park

Matthews Beach - both sets

Ross Park

Gilman - well, I previously called it by its official name Playground, but it's actually pretty obviously a Playfield

Now, these were closed for a wide variety of reasons.  In particular, the Green Lake Community Center and Jackson Park cafe don't open at daybreak this time of year, so neither do their restrooms.  At Maple Leaf Reservoir Park, the opening was late but not (I assume) exceptional, and if it hadn't been for a harasser and an overfull bladder, I would have kept waiting.  My point in this page is not to complain about specific rooms, but to point out that a picture very like this is coming.

And perhaps quite soon.  I've mentioned before to you, dear Diary, that I assiduously track low temperatures.  I also, though not quite as dedicatedly, track forecast low temperatures.  As of about an hour ago, the National Weather Service predicted the following lows for Wednesday through Sunday nights:  40, 41, 39, 36, 36°F.  The other forecast I follow is the one The Seattle Times posts online, and its predictions for those days are 39, 42, 40, 34, 33°F.

Of the above, only Maple Leaf Reservoir Park and one pair from Matthews Beach were definitely supposed to be kept open last winter.  (I'm not sure about the Green Lake and Woodland Parks examples.)  So nobody reading this should panic.  Just be prepared.