Don't it always seem to go*

Wednesday night, some of us went out for tapas at this really popular restaurant in this really popular part of Sweat Sock City. I was SO excited because I managed to score a parking spot right across the street from the restaurant, and I snagged the spot even though the sign said "For Arcade Customers Only. All Others Will Be Towed At Their Own Expense." In retrospect, a tow sign isn't half as scary as the one on the Brandenburg Gate, warning you away from the East Berlin. But I digress.

I was able to watch my car from the window of the tapas restaurant, and prepared my friend for the possibility that I'd have to jump up from my seat and run after a tow truck. Obviously, I didn't get towed, and the evening ended well at a faux-French bakery where we enjoyed dessert and coffee. The story really begins the next morning when I pulled into work and realized that my wonderful, choice parking spot had also been the wonderful, choice spot for birds. So off I went at lunch to a nearby gas station to get a car wash. I paid $6 for 'the works' wash, which, incidentally cost the same as the 'express' wash; I think the marketing at Exxon needs a little work. I'm just saying. Either way, I wasn't terribly happy with the wash as it left some bird souveniers on the hood.

Anyway, an hour after I got my car washed, the skies went black, and opened up like no one's business. I stood there at the windows, completely aghast, as rain PELTED the pavement, the rain drops smacking up from the puddles, and thunder and lightening boomed and crackled. And this went on for HOURS. Parts of Sweat Sock City flooded. We hadn't seen rain in a month and then all of a sudden, gallons and gallons overflowed the streets and pushed the manhole covers up from the road. When I went home, the rain had slowed to a light sprinkle, and I checked out the hood of my car; the rainstorm had pretty much finished the job Exxon had started. Man. For $6, I could have had a burrito.

* Bonus points to anyone who figured out today's pop culture reference