A Little Rain, a Big Reaction

October 17, 2006 - 11:51 AM by Allison

Take a hot, sunny country, with months and months of dry weather and the first rain is a big event: everybody had something to say about it.

Sustainable Apple Pie wrote:

Nothing is more comforting than waking up in my cozy warm bed to the sound of rain outside. And the smell of that first rain, wow. So nice, at least from the backyard of the apartment building. The city streets I’m sure needed a good wash. It certainly wasn’t the same as the the rare raindrops in the Arava (or in Oregon’s high desert, for that matter) that send kids outside dancing and cause flash floods during their five minute downpour. But it’s so nice to have rain instead of sticky humidity.

Newcomer Emah S. from “Moving on Up” was thrilled:

Even after growing up in the humidity and heavy rains of New Orleans, and then living in Florida for over 15 years, I was actually happy to see the rain this morning! It was most exciting as the first drops came down in our area.

And Rafi G. observed:

People here get all nervous when they feel the drops. It could be just a few drops, but people will start running as if it is a torrentious downpour. Traffic comes to a standstill. Drivers get nervous when drops hit their windshields. Roads get slick from the accumulation of greases and oils mixing with the rains, so drivers drive much slower (i.e. they drive at the speed they should be driving at all year round), even if it is a light rain that poses no danger.

I remember a few years ago, before there was a train from Bet Shemesh to Tel Aviv, the first rain of the season and I was on a bus to Tel Aviv. It was a heavy rain and that often brings with it flooding in the poorer neighborhoods of Tel Aviv and other areas. Traffic was bad because of the rain, but worse because of areas being closed off and evacuated due to flooding. It took 5 hours to get to work that day. Half the office was stuck in ridiculous traffic and only came in in time for lunch.

Today people are looking out the window watching the rain, talking about the rain, blogging about the rain, concerned they did not yet take down their sukka (I took mine down ten minutes after havdala after the holiday), what will they do about the rain when they go for lunch, etc..

I always like to say, “A little rain never killed anyone” (though I guess you cannot say that to anyone who lives in New Orleans).

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