The rain in Spain falls mainly on...

The plains.

When I was little, I misunderstood which kind of plains we were talking about it, and thought the rain in Spain falls mainly on the planes.  Because they're high up in the air and the rain never quite made it down to the ground so it fell mainly on the planes.  I had a lot of interesting thoughts like this.  And then I thought this rhyme existed merely because it rhymes.

Turns out, it's true.  The rain in Spain does fall mainly on the plains.  There's also a Spanish version of this rhyme which is similar and wasn't used in My Fair Lady.  The northern and southern parts of Spain get significantly more than the mountain area of Madrid does.  So much so that Madrid is technically a desert, and I'm not sure how there's so much greenery here so if anyone knows please tell me.

Living in Madrid for a year I didn't think it rained that much and can only think of a few days when I needed an umbrella.  Madrileños love when it rains because it's so rare.  Coming from Tufts where it rained non-stop in the Spring, I didn't mind dryer weather.  DC hasn't been particularly rainy since I moved down, so I don't mind the rain in Madrid as much now as I did a few years ago.

For the last two days, it's been raining in Madrid.  For the first time I've heard thunder in Madrid, and huge cracks of thunder that echo across the mountains.  The skies turn this marvelous dark grey-purple.  But days are never rainy or grey, which means even though it's raining on you (but never pouring) you can always look to the east or west and see sunshine.

With the luck that Lara and I have, we got caught in one of the two patches of rain yesterday.  It started as we exited the metro and ended as we got to her boyfriend's apartment.  Que suerte.  I wish I had taken a picture of the sky after because it looked fake.  There was a swirl of dark clouds in the center of our view, but to the left and right it was perfectly sunny.  I think this might be a typical rain patterm for mountainous Spain.  Although not Madrid, these were taken a few years ago in Granada at Al Alhambra.  It was snowing in the shadowed areas and sunny in ... the sun.

Knowing that it was supposed to be a rainy weekend in Madrid, I woke up this morning and checked the weather.  Partly cloudy.  No chance of rain.  So I decided to do a load of laundry.  20 minutes after I hung the laundry to dry, it started drizzling.  Que suerte.  Oh well, the clothes just stay on the line and will eventually dry if the weight of the water doesn't make my laundry fall down 4 stories.  So now I'm sitting in Lara's apartment, and hear the thunder cracks, and realize that maybe now would be a good time to take in my laundry.  Well just imagine that for the first time in a while I timed it perfectly and took in my laundry and as I took my last T-shirt off the line, the heavens opened up.  Maybe my luck isn't all bad after all.