It's always lovely to have friends and family visiting from home. The kettle has been boiling nonstop for days and I have almost doubled my tea consumption in the last week. However, there is a downside to having guests from England, and that's the cast-iron guarantee that the weather will be awful throughout their stay.
This is California, sunshine is what we do. We'll give you a melanoma in half the time for God's sake. Not this week though. Rather like a toddler who will happily recite her ABCs until the big moment when called upon to impress, the California climate has taken one look at my cousin's suitcases and in the words of Anna has said 'NO I NOT!!!'.
It's grey and miserable and rather reminiscent of an English summer's day actually. Last weekend we were sunbathing on the beach, Anna running around in nothing but a sunhat, factor 50 and some very fetching Dora knickers. Then as soon as Ruth's plane touched down we were socked in with impenetrable cloud. I suppose this is why we are the 'Golden State' and not the 'Sunshine State'.
If you go anywhere else the weather is always a bonus, not a given. If you spend a week in the UK and are blessed with sunshine you think, wonderful, how lucky. If you arrive for a stay in California and are met with drizzle and gloom I think you're justified in asking for your money back quite frankly. I feel so bad, our guest only got to see a glimpse of our famous mountains after 3 days and she's off cycling around town this morning in a borrowed fleece and jeans. I understand that this is our 'rainy season' but that usually means a couple of days of torrential rain and then the odd cloud if you keep your eyes peeled. When I first came to SB, LK would point at the sky and say 'oh man, aren't those clouds beautiful', and I'd be thinking, 'oh yeah, clouds, marvellous'. Now I understand why, you just don't see them that often.
Until you have visitors of course.
Ruth's plane leaves first thing Saturday morning, so we should be in for a heatwave this weekend.
4 comments:
that is a bummer! i think if i went to california and it was crappy, i would ask for my money back! :)
look on the brightside, in minnesota we have windchills that are up to -40 these days. super!
Oh dear, how disappointing. I understand why you feel responsible too. When someone has saved their money and flown all that way, you do feel duty bound to introduce them to the 'real' California. It's a shame that 'real' is open to interpretation!
At least when we go back to England in the summer, we know that a) we'll have to go out and buy sweaters, b) someone will get a cold, c) the outdoor party you plan at your mum's will be rained out for over 12 hours, or, as in the past few years, you will arrive in the middle of a heatwave and your American spouse and kids will complain about the lack of AC for the entire visit.
But not in CA! Bummer.
See - if you live in Chicago you can be really specific about when is not a good time to visit weatherwise. November to April, and most of August.
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