It's been raining in LA

I think it's stopped now, but it was raining in LA like the Dickens until recently. 

I'm not there anymore to report first hand, of course. This year I will have been ten years gone.

But I'd know it was raining even if I hadn't constantly been seeing my friends' Facebook posts about it. I'd know because the closing of the sale of my house has once again been delayed by a partial ceiling collapse in one of the rooms. They had to test for asbestos and lead, and while fortunately those tests have come back negative, they may have to do mold remediation. It never ends.

I'd also know it was raining because I got an email from Mission Tiki Drive-In with the following subject: "The Weather Forecast Calls for Movies."

I thought that was just a play on one of the new movies coming out this week -- I don't know, maybe Twister 2 -- but then when I saw the image above I realized "Ah right, there's been rain -- and it looks like part of the Mission Tiki grounds are still flooded out."

See, a drive-in movie lot is not usually just set up as a large, flat space. At least the ones in LA are not. They have long rows of humps laid out, kind of like giant speed bumps, so you can angle your car either up slope or down slope, whichever give you a better view of the screen. (I think it's supposed to be up, but once you get in there it's sort of up to you.)

Now, these valleys in the pavement cause drainage issues, I'm sure. Only they've never really had to worry about drainage in Los Angeles, because the annual rainfall is usually pretty minimal. They're far more likely to experience drought conditions than have more rain than they know what to do with. 

So yeah, I can see the possibility that full two screens have giant lakes where the cars are supposed to go.

I'm a bit confused by the timing though. I feel like it was closer to New Year's that I was hearing about the majority of the rain, yet all four screens were open in the Mission Tiki email that came out two weeks ago. Last week, one screen was closed but I thought nothing of it, maybe just a lapse in the programming due to the start of the year. (Though why Avatar would already be off the screens there is a mystery to me -- maybe it was too expensive.)

With this week's email, either the situation is getting worse, or the drive-in is starting to go under -- drowning financially if not actually. 

In any case, we really need to get our house sold, so please, no more rain in LA.