The best excuse I can think of for living in Chicago is that bad weather brings you closer to other people than good weather does.

Three examples on this Saturday, which should be a “Tra-La!It’s May!” day, but is most certainly NOT, prove this theory:

1. Wiggly-age people in our condo are having a hallway bike race, which really doesn’t involve bikes. It involves little sit-on toys with plastic wheels and it isn’t really a race. It’s a squeal-a-thon, provided by little ones who wisely accept that being the centers of everyone’s attention is their God-given right and duty.

2. Today is the day our 100 or so residents gather in sunshine to plant greenery in our streetside planters. With no sun and about 7 people, the event takes on the intimacy of a family, with commensurate disagreement about where things should go. Very chummy.

3. Walking is a glum option so cabbies rise to savior status. Generally overlooked in amiable amble weather, they get talky when it rains. I felt sheepish to cab it only 6 blocks but my driver was magnanimous. He said, “No problem, Lady.”

You rarely hear that kind of thing on a warm sunny day at the beach.