Dec 23
It’s raining. It has been raining all afternoon. I’m not complaining that it’s raining, we need it.
I only started driving about 2½ years ago. As a result, I still find it genuinely pleasurable to be in a car when it’s raining, even if I’m sitting in traffic.
Slow moving traffic? Luxury. Try not moving, spending 45 minutes standing in the wind and rain waiting for a bus that’s supposed to run every 20 minutes. Poor visibility? Try cycling in a downpour, blinking from the rain in your eyes and squinting through the droplets on your glasses.
Driving in the rain leads to much the same pleasure I get from sitting looking out the window at the rain. It’s the pleasure of knowing that I’m not out there in it. A simple pleasure, but a good one.
December 23rd, 2006 at 23:55 -0700
I’ve been driving 15 years and I still love driving in the rain. But it has to be real rain. Just a drizzle doesn’t do it.
I think it’s a specific instance of how being out of the rain and watching it gets better the smaller the space you’re in, provided the space is warm and dry. Rain in a car is thus better than rain in a house, rain in a tent is better than rain in a car, and so on.
January 15th, 2007 at 06:31 -0700
I feel something similar — except I’m the one on the bicycle! I’m quite warm and dry (modern rainwear is superb), I’m feeling some pride in “braving the elements” when some wusses would prefer to stay in their cars, and I’m zooming along past motorists who are stuck in long queues.
I guess we all like to feel superior in our personal transportation choices…
January 15th, 2007 at 08:57 -0700
Well, it’s the difference between feeling superior and feeling pampered. I’d occasionally feel superior as a cyclist or bus rider, but feeling the luxury of sitting in a warm car sipping coffee and listening to your favorite music is a different kind of pleasure.