People unfortunate enough to not live in Los Angeles probably don't know [... or care -- Ed.] how fascinated we are by rain. I work in a closed lab, and I noticed that it was raining this afternoon when I went outside for a break; when I returned and told everyone I was met by a chorus of "ooooo"s and "ahhhh"s. "Is it raining hard?" "Is there lightning?" "Is there thunder?" "Is it drizzling or raining?" "I'm going to go look, I'll be back."
For most Los Angeleans, the second thing that comes to mind when they see water falling from the sky (after the awe disappates) is that it's going to screw up traffic. It'll take twice as long to get home, mostly because we don't know how to drive in the rain. We drive as if it's not raining at all, until we crash into something hard and die. Then everyone behind us gets delayed by our wreckage, and pissed off even further. Once they finally navigate around the accident site, it's common practice to curse the dead for not dying at a more convenient location, and to then jam the gas pedal to make up for lost time.
The next morning, all anyone will be able to talk about is how much it rained. "My car was completely soaked!" "Traffic was awful, there were crashes everywhere." "The air sure is clear this morning!" "Look, I brought an umbrella!" Not that it will do much good since it won't rain again for months, but good show!
This is the cutest quote:
"My car was completely soaked!"
Do people really say that? I live in the midwest where we are weather centric. But we aren't fascinated by rain, just predictions of rain.
lt
Yes, well a lot of people here are rather fanatical about keeping their cars clean (not me...), and when it rains it can be quite surprising.
I've seen so many ruined cars on the freeway after the first rain of the season. Folks still want to do 90 in the left lane, then *smack*! Front end meets concrete center divider. Divider wins every time.
Plus, the roads are oily and the water makes them really slick until it washes the oil away.