A rain to wash away sin…

A rain to wash away sin…

We had rain coming this weekend. For once, the forecasters had it right.

First brush was Friday morning when it poured down at 7:00am. I sat around in my bike clothing trying to get any information – the news channels focused on a distant hurricane and the internet was down. Finally it broke and I risked it – thank goodness for fenders! Got to Orange Avenue and suddenly it was bone dry.

The ride home was gusty, rainshafts all around. Made it home rain-dry (but sweaty).

Friday evening, it started to rain.

I like rain. I love the way it sounds, how it makes you feel while you are indoors. I even love rain when I’m on a bike. After the first 100 yards, you are as wet as you are going to get and everything is fine. It’s cool and cleansing, and the world looks better for it.

I had a great book to explore (The girl who kicked the hornet’s nest). Outside of a morning appointment at the carshop, I had no real plans. Just a quiet indoors weekend.

I think the anime movie Cowboy Bebop carried the idea best – there, on a colonized and teriformed Mars, the weather control station is seized and forced to generate rain (which will wash an anti-nanotechnology agent across a stricken city and save millions). A character notes that this is “a rain to wash away the world’s sin.” I always think that when I’m on the loading dock atop the bike, getting ready.

So this weekend, it rained. And rained and rained. 4.5 inches in 24 hours, a new record. And at mid-morning Sunday, its still coming down.

I’ve got the curtains open as I write this, looking out on a world that seems new and slick and shiny. Nice.