Christmas in October

A couple of weeks ago, maybe more (actually it was the weekend Nate visited) Los Angeles had its first rainfall in 180 days. That's a lot of days. As a true East Coaster I was thrilled about the rain. I played the song "Grey in LA" by Loudon Wainwright III on repeat and snuggled in my bed all day. It was fantastic. That night when I was out at a bar I overheard a woman in the bathroom talking about the rain:
Woman 1: "I didn't leave the house all day, I couldn't get anything done. Luckily Tom had stocked up yesterday when he heard the news flash about the storm, I mean there was just NO way I was going to drive in those conditions"
Women 2: "Oh you are so lucky, we were so worried we almost went to Ralph's (grocery store out here) and then realized how dangerous it would be.
My thoughts: "This is a joke right?"

If rainstorms came in small, medium, and large this rainstorm would have been a size 4-6. The woman in the bathroom actually used the words "these conditions." The only time I have ever been afraid to drive in bad weather was the winter of o3' during the blizzard/ice storm in February that cancelled school for a week an a half, and even then I still drove, I was just a little nervous after fishtailing before I even got to the end of my block.
I recently brought this up with some friends of mine who live out here but who also grew up on the East Coast. They agreed that the response to rain out here is equivalent to our response to massive sleet/hail, snow, and ice. They said when there is even a chance of rain, people refuse to drive, they carry around massive umbrellas, everyone is wearing rain boots, and the bread shelves at the market as well as the streets are significantly less crowded.
While I think it is ridiculous how scared people are of driving in the rain out here, I do understand the hassle it can bring. The morning after I overheard the bar bathroom conversation I woke up to see a towel and a huge pot on the leather couch in our living room. The couch we had just recently purchased, in the new apartment we had just recently leased under the impression that it had been completely renovated before we moved in. Turns out the renovations were only on the inside and our ceiling had a leak. Our ceiling was like the woman in the bathroom, a complete pussy when it came to the rain.
Julia and I expressed our concern with our landlords and I wont bore you with all the details but just this morning we received a large gift basket, with a pretty bow, and filled with an assortment of special goodies, a gift from our landlords.

Until Julia gets home from work and we can open it together I have placed our gift basket underneath our "Christmas Tree."