E-mail from Palos Vercfes-10 - Towards the 'Age of Wisdom'

摘要

The past several days have again been stormy, with torrential rains every day. The damage from the rain is quite extensive. In Palos Verdes, a parking lot that collapsed last year was exposed to the heavy rains before it could be repaired. The weather report says another monster storm should hit tonight. Outside the thunder roars, lightning flashes across the sky, and it feels like a real storm. In around 1970, seen from the window of a Boeing 707, southern California was a dry, brown land. There were few trees on the hills and mountains; all one could see was dry desert. The temperature was low, and even when it was over 30℃ it didn't feel that hot. At night the temperature drops, and I remember wearing a thick jacket to watch the races on the half-mile dirt track in Ascot. There were always both summer and winter closes in my closet, not for the different seasons, but for day and night. There was very little rain in the desert climate, mostly falling in the rainy season (November - February). From 1975 on, I don't think we kept umbrellas at home any more. There weren't even gutters on our eaves. The drainage on streets were not very good, and when rain fell roads would be flooded all over. Even on days when the hot wind blew from inland, so called Indian summer, we never really felt the need for air-conditioning.