A Rainy day in LA

They say that a successful blog must teach something, if you're not teaching, nobody is watching.  Because at the end of the day, people are interested in something THEY can use, not what you're doing.  However, I did title my site, Urban Life, and so I must depart from the paradigm from time to time and just indulge myself.  So in that spirit, I have created a short little film of a rainy day in Los Angeles.  That in itself is an event.  However, six days of rain is an epic event and this is a tiny chronicle of those times not that long ago.  

   There is something about rain that moves my soul and sooths my spirit.  I believe it is because I was born and raised in Nevada and rain in the desert is always a special thing, almost a spiritual thing.  When the rain falls in the desert, you can smell the sage from mountains and gullys miles away and the dust is washed from the air.  In the city, the rain washes the pavement clean and cleans the smog from the air and brings into sight horizons that you forgot existed.  And suddenly there are dozens of little cafes and coffee houses where you can duck into and escape with a hot cup of coffee or tea.  Or sip a shot in a bar where like minded souls share muted conversation.  

   I was in Hong Kong one time on a rainy day and I ducked into one such restaurant and it was empty except for one table where a beautiful woman was eating alone.  The waiter knowing that both her and I spoke English, me American, she British, asked me if I would like to sit with her.  I said of course, if she didn't mind.  She didn't.  And we sat there, her and I and 15 Chinese waiters in crisp white uniforms standing at attention waiting to fill a glass of water or remove a plate at a moments notice.  We got on fine and left that restaurant for the Hong Kong rain and spent the afternoon exploring hidden antiquities and curio shops deep in hidden allys while squinty eyed old men watched us over long pipes.  I took the ferry back to Kowloon and met up with her later that night at a bar called, wait for it, Ricks, where she was sitting with friends under a ceiling fan. I bought her a Fosters and that my friends was the beginning of a beautiful friendship....for the next few days anyway.  

   The rain can make magic happen and it does all the time.  It washes away the dust in the city, and it washes away the dusty cobwebs in your mind as well.  You only have to be open to it.