I live in SoCal, I am known in my threads on this board for detesting heat and welcoming any signs of cold air. I was the one dancing and leaping for joy last December (and I go to DLR in December every year) when the weather forecast said that it was going to be 29 degrees on one specific evening. I was the one laughing at the complainers on TV (my fellow Los Angeles residents) who were mystified by the cold air, almost to the point of thinking it was a conspiracy -- the evil plot of some meteorological mastermind behind the scenes.
I think it eventually "warmed up" to a nice, toasty 31 degrees on the evening that was supposed to be 29 degrees -- and I was disappointed when I learned of this development, thinking I'd have to whip out the sunscreen and shorts.
But, nonetheless, despite the rise from 29 degrees to 31 degrees, I made my annual sojourn to DLR in the second week of December last year, and I brought a coat with me, as well as mittens and neck scarves... just in case.
I stood on Main Street on my first night, awaiting the start of the second Candlelight Processional -- which was to begin at 8 p.m., and... my hands could not hold the camera because they had become blocks of ice. Main Street felt like a frozen tundra, and I found myself grasping for my neck scarves, mittens and coat, furiously putting them on while my fingers still had blood running through them. I was pulling the scarf up around my mouth and around my nose, I was practically wearing my coat as a hat, and I put the camera away because it kept trying to slide out from the clutches of my slippery mittens.
Again, remember -- I am one who scoffs at a 75-degree day as being too warm, and a 50-degree day as being "just right." I like bundling up when I have the chance to do so. I've lived in L.A./SoCal my entire life, and I've seen the 90-degree December days, and the 50-degree December nights. I've also seen the 50-degree December days and 30-degree December nights. I have also seen it rain heavily and messily for days on end.
But it got to be a little too cold at one point last December, and the cold air -- combined with a pain I was having in my leg -- began to make me nauseous. So I hightailed it away from Main Street (a place where you never want to start feeling queasy), mid-Candlelight, and escaped to a nice, warm hotel room! (Yes -- I was looking for heat -- the arctic air made me delirious, and I temporarily lost my mind.) Normally, I can take the 30-degree nights in Southern California, but that particular night felt colder than the 30 degree evenings I had experienced in the past!
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