This summer has been a very wet one in New York City. I think I read somewhere that June 2009 was the 4th wettest June in NYC history. Which doesn’t sound all that impressive because nobody remembers 4th place (this strikes a personal chord with me because my business school seems to be perpetually stuck in #4 purgatory. With a logo like THAT, we're NEVER gonna be #1!)



Anyway, I've started to notice a pattern. A sudden summer rainstorm is almost ALWAYS followed by distant fire engine sounds. Have you noticed this and if so, do you have a theory as to why? I realize that there are dangers related to driving in the rain. I'm familiar with the concept of Hydroplaning. Not only because I have done it before (WHHEEEE!! I'm driving down the 805! WHHEEEEE! I'm SLIDING down the 805!) but because Californians are notoriously bad drivers in rain and I have witnessed more cars spinning down the freeway than I have heart-shaped items in my apartment. But…if a car hydroplanes and ultimately ends up in a car crash (God Forbid)…doesn't that usually involve the Fuzz, not the Fire Department?

So I googled "Fire and Rain". The only thing that came up was : ""Fire and Rain" is a folk/rock song written and performed by James Taylor. Taylor publicly said that he composed "Fire and Rain" in 1968 during a stay in the Spanish island of Formentera, a place that he jokingly defined as a place (then) "full of goats and drug smugglers".

(Cool! I went to Formentera! I didn't see any goats! See blog: http://iwantpink.blogspot.com/2007/07/vacation-planning.html)

I don’t know this song "Fire and Rain". Mind you, I'm the person who thought Jim Croce was African American. Tom Jones, too, come to think of it. So I'm not exactly your "Phone A Friend" when it comes to these matters. I looked up the lyrics and nope, the song doesn't ring a bell. And it didn't shed any light on why sudden rain storms are frequently followed by the fire engine siren sound. I know it's a random post. But I was just wondering why, that's all.