Wondering About Weather

When I lived in the UK, I had in my mind that one day I would like to live somewhere with better weather. Some may say I've achieved this since I now live in California. But what is better weather? I often meet people who live in predominantly hot climates who talk of cooler climates being "better" or people who live in very dry areas who say wetter climates are "better". Immediately we can see that better weather is very subjective.

"Oh no it's raining" is often uttered as an inconvenience. And yet, one of the most important elements of our planet and our individual bodies is water! So shouldn't rain be hailed and worship equally like the sun?

A couple of days ago the weather in San Francisco became relatively cold and many conversations were filled with how awful and how cold it was. I admit that it wasn't hot, but from my experience of living, it wasn't truly cold enough to be an inconvenience. Speaking with my father, who lives in a tropical country on one of these 'cold' days was odd since he was saying how hot he was and was looking forward to some rain to cool things down. Meanwhile my brother expressed his jealousy of the 'cold' weather in San Francisco sounding positively tropical to the snow, frozen lakes and ice the was being experienced where he was in the UK.

Last week I was sitting in my office when I felt an earthquake that made the building ripple. It was a 4.1 at it's epicenter some miles away but it was enough to move a few small items around in my home. Even though tremors and quakes are regular occurrences in California, the significant shocks dominate conversations for a day or two following. Any inconvenience we may have felt from the quake or from the fact that it looks like rain is coming our way, is suddenly trivia when we look at the devastation in the Haiti earthquake.