aahhhh…. california

Tonight, I had to laugh again at how different life is out here.

I just sat through the 11pm weather report on the local NBC station.  Today it started raining, for only the 3rd time since we moved out here.  It rained on Memorial day, and then it sprinkled and spat a bit a few weeks ago.  Today we got what amounted to somewhere between a light rain, and a drizzle.  And yet:

1. They were warning people to drive save on the road the next morning, telling them not to forget how to drive on wet roads.
2. They even interviewed a cop who talked about how people may be ticketed, even if they are driving below the speed limit, if they’re driving too fast in “dangerous conditions”.
3. They even went so far as to start giving out auto maintenance tips:  “Check your tire pressure!”  “Go buy windshield wipers!”.  And even went to a local Autozone and interviewed a guy who said that they sell more windshield wipers on the first rainy weekend of the fall, than at any one time during the year (which I suppose makes sense, but come on…).

You’d think they were about to get the worst blizzard or ice storm in years by the way they talk about it.  What I find most bizarre though is that just 1.5 hrs up into the mountains from here, they get 5 to 6 ft of snow at a time.  And yet just 80 miles away, people don’t even know how to drive in the rain.

For me, it just makes this place feel a little bit more like home.  Nothing like a gray and rainy day to remind you of your homeland.

On an unrelated note, does anyone else think it’s creepy to hear someone talking on the phone when they’re on the toilet?  Weirds me out…