Because no one else does.

Just as soon as the Human Rights March came to an end on Friday, a two or three thunderclaps shook the city, and hard rain came down within seconds. Rabin Square, where some 10,000 activists and refugees huddled, emptied in minutes.

We did not have enough rain so far, not nearly enough; and Field Marshal Summer, much stronger around these parts than his more famous cousin, General Winter, took his own sweet time departing. Used to be, some 15 to 20 years ago, you could expect rains in mid-September; afterwards, mid-October; but this year we did not see a serious rain until after the first third of December.

This had people worried, of course. Israelis are drought-conscious. Many of the old-timers make it a point following the precise level of the Kineret. The rabbis were worried, too. So a couple of them flew up in a balloon, taking a former beauty queen with them for the benefit of the press, and from a great height supplicated Jehova (that taunting of the Baal priests by Eliahu, “Cry aloud: peradventure he sleepth, and must be aroused” came immediately to mind) to make rain. To no avail. Not a single drop.

Yet, lo and behold, as soon as the leftists in Tel Aviv ended their march, the skies opened. I have it on very good authority that the rain came down just as the followers of the Flying Spaghetti Monster were sitting down to a feast of divinely-ordained pasta. Yet still the people cling to their idolatries, and harken not to the slurp of Truth, and reject the caress of Her Noodly Appendage.

Problem is, Israel may be touted as a “startup nation”, but when it comes to the maintenance of infrastructure, it belongs, as a friend of mine remarked, to “the 2.5 world”. Every year, the first rains manage to gain the advantage of surprise against the power company and other utilities, and power shortages break out, roads get blocked by falling trees, the poorer side of town gets flooded, etc.

This time was no exception, and – as people are still very angry over the gross mismanagement leading to the Carmel fire – the Israeli twitterspehre blew up with complaints. Unusually, I did not share the mood. After all, this isn’t normal rain: it’s a bleeding storm, blowing at 100 km/h, and already sinking one ship off the shore of Ashdod (fortunately, the sailors are safe). Give the poor bastards trying fix power lines in this weather a break.

But apart from that, I think I’m just relieved not to feel the heat of 28 degrees Celsius in December, and seeing gray skies, without that hostile blue glare you get most of the year. Of course, if it was my apartment block to suffer from a power outage, I probably would have reacted differently. I certainly did last year.

Field Marshal Summer is supposed to be back on duty on Wednesday. Let’s enjoy his all to short absence.