San Francisco is My Home

12
Oct

Apres moi, le deluge

Author: kris, Category: News

It’s raining. Every time it rains, I think, oh so this is the beginning of the rainy season. I think it rained maybe six times last winter, and each time I was convinced the deluge was upon us. I’ll start ordering tweed skirts online, stocking up on cocoa and bubble bath…then the sun comes out. Again.

I remember when SF used to have a rainy season. It was the years I was walking to work every day, naturally. I worked on the top floor of the only tall building in the Mission, so we had these amazing views of the city. Every day I’d come in wearing my soaked squelchy socks and sit shivering, looking out at the grey sky. (The office was impossible to heat because of all the floor-to-ceiling windows, and the HR assistant used to commandeer the only space heater. Chilly times.)

Maybe those days are done. Global warming, eh? That is a weird phenomenon around these parts. We’re all green hippie liberals so of course we believe in it — that’s like asking if we believe in chairs — and in fact we take it so much for granted that it’s already made the transition from disaster to joke. I think it took about a year for anyone to make jokes about Katrina, and it’s still kind of iffy to joke about 9/11, but global warming hasn’t even come to its full power yet and already it seems like a thing of the past.

We’re taking a few steps towards environmental soundness around here, of course.We’re the first city to ban plastic bags (an awesome step until you consider the number of dogs we have living here who need to be cleaned up after). We’ve also got some excellent car sharing programs like City Car Share and Zipcar, which allow you to use a car when you need it and not worry about parking or gas or having a major financial asset parked on the street the rest of the time. And of course our stores’ shelves are overflowing with organic stuff and locally-produced stuff and green-friendly stuff.

And it’s raining, at least for today. I hope it stays wet for a while; California girl though I am, I actually missed the rains last year. Besides, how in the heck will I wash my neck if it ain’t gonna rain no more?