Berkeley has been known for its chilly winter-like weather year-round. I remember last year when Channel 5 did a news story about the first day of school and showed freshmen huddled up in sweatshirts on a foggy morning in August. This week has been an aberration. From Wednesday, high temperatures were 91, 94, and 91. I went home for the weekend only to encounter a temp of 98.

In the BART ride home, a sane enough man with a bicycle sat in front of me. About 15 minutes in, passing by Lake Merritt station, he started to talk to a woman in Chicago. She was apparently a police dispatcher. His brother had been arrested on some "bogus" charge, as he described it, and wanted to talk to the detective in charge. He got the run-around and after about three connections, got back to the same dispatcher, to whom the man just started yelling at the poor woman, wanting to get the detective on the phone. I think he got disconnected because he started yelling profanities. Once he talked again, he started yelling, "I WANT DETECTIVE FRANCIS ON THE PHONE!!! F-R-A-N... He was stopped when the person on the other end apparently identified himself as Detective Francis. The man explained his situation and calmed down since he complimented the detective for his nice attitude. Once he was done with his call, he got off the train.

Now here's the weird part of this loud incident. As I saw the man, he had no phone in his hand. I assumed he had one of the those ear pieces that connect to a cell phone, plus his finger was in the ear the entire time as if holding onto some headphone. But about 5 minutes into the conversation, only his finger was in his ear. He had yelled at himself for 15 minutes all the way up to San Leandro station.