Since I moved to the Bay Area in 1998, rain has become one of those things I dreaded. I didn’t have a car in (early) college and I was playing lacrosse 6 days a week, so if it was raining, that meant I would be completely soaked. In fact, my sophomore year in college it rained every single day in the month of February (1999) … and we had 3-hour practices in the rain every single day! Man, I really hated that.
On the other hand, the rain here is very predictable. Rain marks the winter season and it’s usually a continuous, steady flow that an umbrella can reasonably guard you against. Since 1998, I think it’s only rained 2-3 times during the summers. Leif remarked yesterday that it has thundered once for the past three years: once when we lived in two different apartments in SF (Page St. and Union St.) and now (yesterday) that we live in Mountain View. It’s funny that the “thunderstorm” yesterday lasted fifteen minute — two flashes of lightening and a hiccup of rain. Nothing compared to real thunderstorms from back East where we both grew up ! But today that steady drizzle has returned. It has been raining all morning, and since I’m not playing competitive sports anymore and I have a car (and my bike has a flat anyway), it’s actually quite refreshing to listen to the pitter-patter on the roof of the apartment knowing that I’ll be (relatively) warm and dry.
I better sign off: I’m going to visit old friends this morning and then I’ve got a lot of packing to do. Happy Saturday !
