I was talking to an old friend on Friday about how amazing it is to be in a t-shirt in November. We both had lived elsewhere, somewhere that gets cold, before settling in CA. There are definitely trade-offs.
The traffic is insane. If there ever is a bit of weather, the drivers act like it’s the end of the world and they don’t know what to do. There’s a torrential downpour and people still drive like the freeway is wide open and they have room to go 80 mph. They act like the roads are cleaned by rain all the time and aren’t covered with the slick of a years worth of motor oil. The addition of the water does what water and oil always do… the oil floats and causes massive pileups on the sides of every freeway.
I can live with the traffic because I can flex time or telecommute and just avoid it all, because even the carpool lane doesn’t help on those kinds of days. Luckily, they don’t come that often, although I suspect the El Nino will be causing a few this winter.
We don’t have to shovel snow out of our driveways, or try to find our car in a completely blanketed parking lot after work. No ice scrapers, but I do keep a squeegee in the car for clearing off the side windows on moist mornings.
Some of the things that used to be local to SoCal are no longer exclusive, such as being able to get fresh fruits and veg year round. More often than not, the produce at supermarkets isn’t even from California, just like the rest of the country. But at Farmer’s Markets, which run all year round, you can get wonderful seasonal produce. And since our seasons are longer, that’s more stuff that isn’t in season elsewhere.
The first time I visited San Diego was during the first winter break of college. I remember going to La Jolla and having a picnic on Christmas day. It was beautiful. Back east, there was an ice storm and I heard all about it when I returned, and knew where I would end up when school was done. Four years later, I packed all my belongings in a U-Haul and headed west.
I don’t think you can go back though. Your blood thins, you get used to the warm, you get used to the morphing seasons. It’s wierd when suddenly it’s Christmas and it feels like it was just Independence Day a few weeks ago. But you get used to it.
It was 90F here today, and it’s November 19th. And I love that. Yesterday, we went for a walk on the beach. Surprisingly, there weren’t many other people on the paths, like there are in the summer. But the worst trade-off is living in a place where you can see the air.

I have asthma, and though it’s under control since I gave up drinking milk, it still bothers me that the air is visible. I think there are some fires going east of here, so some of that is smoke, but still. That’s just gross. See the Hollywood sign there? It’s that little white line at the middle left. Not quite what you see in the movies, eh?
I’m staying anyway.