Caught in the Rain and No Umbrella

It's a very London-like afternoon in Streeterville, 45 degrees and periods of intermitten fog and rain. Funny that I think of London when the weather is like this. It could just be that the weather patterns are changing and the long slow warmup is beginning. Winter isn't over yet, but the below zero stuff is. It may snow overnight tonight when the temperature drops.

The thing is I could think of a lot of things that this could be like, but in my mind it's London. Maybe it's tied to the reason that I own a London Fog overcoat as well, who knows? It could be like my childhood in Arkansas. Typical winter days there tended to hover between 35 and 45 degrees and it rained a lot. Do I think of that? Nope! That weather played hell with my sinuses as a child. I constantly had a runny nose. The doctor had me on nose drops that ran down the back of my throat and they tasted bloody awful. See, there's that London thing coming through again.

I understand that it's like this a lot in the Pacific Northwest. The problem is I have no real memories of that area of the country. I know enough about Seattle to make it up, but it wouldn't be real. Truthfully, the only time I've ever been to Seattle was once when I had a 3 hour layover there when I was flying from Narita, Japan to Minneapolis. The view from the airport was lovely. I could see Mt. Something or other with its white ice cap in the distance. It just doesn't do it for me to compare 45 and foggy and rainy here to that.

I could compare it to San Francisco. I saw a Sam Spade film noir movie that was set in San Francisco and Bogie was walking in the fog. It set quite the tone. My memories of San Francisco, however, involve riding the cable cars, going to Chinatown on Christmas day, eating breakfast in a Jewish Deli on that same Christmas day, and marveling at people ice skating in 65 degree weather with palm trees in the background. Not working for the appropriate analogy here.

Now I did go to New Zealand during our summer which is their winter once. The North Island was one wet place. Can you say rainforest? I bet you can. Very much like the Pacific Northwest so I hear, but with trees that look like oversized ferns and people driving on the left side of the road and guys selling big bags full of kiwis for $2.00 in New Zealand money which is like $1.10 or maybe $1.25 U.S. They sound like Aussies. Couldn't tell the difference. It did rain a lot, but there were these volcanic black sand beaches and people heating their homes with geothermal. Can you say stinky, smelly sulphur water? Needless to say, that's not doing the job for me as metaphor today. Nice people those kiwis, but way too many sheep and hiking people for me.

Nope it's definitely London, beautiful city really. I've walked through Hyde Park and seen Kensington Palace and the black swans in the pond in the park and accidentally stumbled on Herrods Knightsbridge. It's just another friggin department store. It's often foggy and rainy there, though, and cool, not frigid. Comes from living on an island surrounded by lots and lots of water at a high latitude, but with the Gulf Stream rolling by. I remember getting caught in the rain and thinking of buying an umbrella there. There was a whole store dedicated to nothing but umbrellas, or bumbershoots as some might say. Trouble was I was young and on a budget and those were the most godawful expensive umbrellas I'd ever seen in my life. Did without, thank you very much.

As I recall, I also got caught in the rain in Paris on that trip. Early September in Europe, it must rain a lot. Went into a little shop on the Boulevard something or maybe it was the Rue de La Something, but they had umbrellas, parapluies for the Francophones. Now I had 2 years of high school French and 14 semester hours of college French and in about 1970 I was wired for sound with the French stuff. When I actually went to France many, many annees later, I was scared shitless to mouth a single word of French. I depended on Babs to communicate. I walked into that shop, looked in the glass case and pointed to the one I wanted and blurted out, "Je voudrais le paraplui noir pour soixante et quinze francs." The clerk looked at me disgustedly and corrected my French, "Ce n'est pas soixante et quinze. C'est soixante quinze." Inside my head I was thinking, "Hey, I tried asshole. Just give me the fucking umbrella and I'll be out of here." As it happens, everyone in Paris corrects your French. Do we do that to foreigners who are struggling with the language here? NO! We just swipe their Visa cards and smile. Paris doesn't cut the mustard. Still London in my book.

Anyway, when I arrived home in Streeterville this afternoon it was so foggy I couldn't see Lake Michigan across the street. I went to the gym and worked out and when I came back out onto Michigan Ave. it was pouring rain. I didn't bring the umbrella. Just like in London. Just like in Paris. Had a car in New Zealand when it rained. In my head Streeterville and the Gold Coast in the fog and rain at 45 degrees is most like London. Makes me think of those old Werewolf of London movies. Lots of creepy fog. Pouring rain. Then Warren Zevon creeps into my head, "AAAAAAOOOOOO! Werewolves of London! AAAAAOOOO!" Well that's the feeling this afternoon. I walked home with the collar of my coat turned up and my hat dripping rain from the brim. "Better stay away from him. He'll rip your lungs out Jim. AAAAOOOOO!"