That this weekend is Memorial Day tells us that summer is approaching. For many, this is a good thing. For others, it means you are never quite safe from the mystery drip.

Anyone who has experienced a New York City summer knows the mystery drip, unfortunately. One of the most unclean, disgusting, inhumane phenomena on the planet, the mystery drip occurs when one is peacefully going about one’s business on a sunny day and is suddenly intruded upon by a splash of water from above. A glance upwards reveals that it is not raining, so what could it be?

Ah, the mystery drip. Yes, so I am exaggerating slightly, and the mystery drip is in fact no longer any mystery at all. I quickly learned that the mysterious drops of water that so often fall on your nose while walking about New York City on a hot day are in fact the products of window air conditioning units. Completely harmless (we presume).

But for months when I first lived here, I would always feel disgusted when I got hit with one of these drops—was someone spitting on me? What someone discarding their most vile fluidic waste onto innocent old me walking below? My imagination always seemed to somehow come up with the worst possible explanation.

It is all settled now—those little unpleasant intruders are the innocent enough offspring of another summertime NYC staple—air conditioning. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to keep walking right next to the building…I’ll take the curbside lane, thank you.

Those pesty in-window A/C units are everywhere…