I Come From Foreign

It has been HOTT in LA lately. And when I say hot I mean hot hot hot. Like 95 degrees hot (35 Celcius) in Burbank (by all the network studios) when I went to pick up my cousin. It’s about 10 degrees cooler here in lovely Santa Monica but it’s only 8 freakin 30 in the morning!!!

I love the heat. Feels like home. I tend to find cold weather limiting. Too much clothes. It’s just not natural, no? Before I moved to foreign, I did not own sweatpants. There was no need! Sweat was an every day occurrence. No special pants necessary. A fact of life. You just deal with it and you bathe more often.

LA is hot SOMETIMES but it is ALWAYS DRY. Which means that sweat is an anomaly. I’ve forgotten how to sweat! NO, not really. But it definitely isn’t normal anymore. Weird. I need to invest in more shorts.

People get scared when it’s hot here. In Trini we have bush fires, here it’s brush fires–the desert dryness does not help.

People planning outdoor activities through the weekend should take into consideration the very high temperatures and adjust your activities accordingly. Wear loose fitting light weight clothing and drink plenty of water. Take advantage of shade and air conditioning if available.

Never ever leave children, the elderly or pets in enclosed automobiles, even for the shortest time. Temperatures quickly rise to life-threatening levels, even if the windows are partially opened.

~ abc7.com

Now does that sound to you like the warnings for a population used to sunny, warm temperatures?

To once and for all banish the persisting rumours about hot and sunny all the time LA, read this and now hear this: At our apartment here in Santa Monica, we don’t have AC. Not because our landlords are sadistic devils. THERE IS NO NEED. Three hundred and sixty days out of the year, it is cool enough that you open a window and it is all good. Cool breeze. Cool air. No AC.

365 (a full year) - 360 = 5 days out of the year when it’s hot as balls and an AC starts to sound like a sound investment.

Yeh, you know where I’m going with this. I’m living those 5 days as we speak.

Hot hot hot. Actually I think this is the tail end. Better enjoy it while I still have it.

Tomorrow it will be 60 degrees and grey and I’ll be wearing tights and a scarf and layers (what the hell are layers? I honestly still haven’t really mastered layering. They befuddle me. We’ll discuss at a later date) wondering how LA so fully tricked the world…

You can be driving down the freeway in April, 80 degrees out (26 Celsius) and sunshine-y for once, all on tenterhooks and shizz for the summer and lo and behold, alas alack, there’s snow on the gd mountains just a little bit in the distance.

SNOW!!

Now talk about a foreign concept.

I’ve seen snow twice in my life. I think. Well, once for sure.

I was in Canada visiting my best friend* and it was March and my hair froze.

No good.

Island people and snow usually doh mix.

But being in snow and being able to see snow are two very different things, especially when you can see the snow from the lovely vantage point of somewhere where it’s 80 degrees and you’re wearing a sundress.

Seeing snow when it’s 80 degrees out makes me happy.

And that is the first reason (of many to come) why LA is cool.

*(Incidentally, this lovely bff and her bf were my first visitors from back home this Feb and she was just as damn cold as me in perpetually warm and sunny (ha!) LA. Vindication! [more on bff to come])