04.04.2004 | 6:34 pm

So you can shed those heavier layers around lunchtime, as the ground starts to warm and melts what�s left of the ice sitting around our city�s streets. We�ll reach the high temperature for the day at around noon. I�m hoping it�ll hit about forty before all is said and done, with clear skies and little wind to speak of. It�ll be a good day to take the dog for a walk, or get that afternoon run in. I will personally guarantee that that first breath of spring sitting quietly just above the ground is going to feel like an awakening from hibernation, or a phone call from a forgotten love, or better yet, bumping into that forgotten love you haven�t heard from in ten years, when she took off in her baby blue Ford Escort on a day just like this, leaving you standing at the top of the stairs that led to your apartment. I can even guarantee you that the light will shine just the way you remember it catching the brown, white-flecked brick at the corners of each building, casting triangular shadows across the drive that she drove through one by one, until she reached the end of the row and stopped for just a second to see if you were watching her leave, and your first impulse was to duck, because you didn�t want her to come back; but instead of making a definite move you just crouched in a half-assed attempt which must have come across as an insult, because you were too apathetic to even all the way trample her hope. She responded to by lowering her window, and throwing a handful of your CDs flashing into the crisp afternoon air that was slowly cooling because of the low pressure system moving overhead that had brought with it a cold air front from further north, and will probably bring us some precipitation in the form of freezing rain by early this evening, towards the end of rush hour. So be careful on your drive home.