When Sunny California Isn’t : Enough Goose Bumps to Go Around

Mildred Smith has a message for all the people sitting around carpeted offices and in heated cars whining about that nasty weather out there. Cold is not running from the parking lot to the office or rushing out to get the mail.

“Honey, I’m not cold--I’m freezing,” Smith, a school crossing guard, said as she rubbed her mittens together on a Santa Ana street corner. “I’m wet. I’m cold. I’ve got the flu. My feet hurt. Those folks inside are lucky. They have it made.”

Smith was one of the unfortunate few who found themselves working outside Wednesday as a rainstorm packing heavy winds rolled across Orange County. That’s outside, in the wind, in the rain, in the miserably wet cold. As in, hearing the water squish around your shoes with each step.

Never mind that it wasn’t the coldest that it has ever been in Orange County, or that there have been days when it rained harder and longer, and the wind blew stronger. When you’re standing at the corner of Baker Street and Washington Avenue in rubber boots, a yellow rain slicker and a silly-looking pink-and-white umbrella strapped to your head, record highs and lows and rainfall statistics become almost meaningless.

“I’m from Oklahoma, and you know we had some bad cold there,” she said, adjusting her umbrella cap to keep the rain out of her face. “Rain, snow, sleet . . . lots of snow in Oklahoma. But this gets to be just as bad, because we’re not used to it here. This is awful. Miserable.”

Not that there were a lot of people like Smith whose jobs called on them to go sloshing around in the rain Wednesday. Most folks just park outside the office, make one long dash inside, then another quick sprint back to the car before heading home.

“Well,” Smith said, “usually it’s good being outside like this. But on a day like today--just say I’d rather be inside.”

At South Coast Plaza, where the packed parking lot served notice that it will take more than a little rain and wind to keep Christmas shoppers away, Craig Anderson also was thinking about how nice it would be to have one of those indoor jobs. Such as the one he gave up a few months ago so he could enjoy all that Southern California sunshine working as a parking attendant for Angel’s Valet service at the mall.

“Actually, I’m from Chicago, and I’ve only lived here for about six months,” said Anderson, 22, his short brown hair drenched from four straight hours of parking cars in a steady rain. “I’ve been bragging to my friends back home about how sunny California is, and now I have egg on my face.

“I’m beginning to wonder if this is the California I’ve been bragging about,” he added, running headlong into a driving wind after parking a red Mercedes. “I’ve got four layers of clothes on and my hands are numb. But I usually like it out here. I gave up an office job for this.”

Behind the valet counter, 24-year-old Tracy Douglas explained why she, too, was standing in a puddle of water attending to customers.

“Well, let’s face it, this is absolutely no fun,” said Douglas, an art student at Orange Coast College. “I’m doing this for the love of my family--so they’ll get some Christmas presents.

“But look at me! My Reeboks are soaked, I have two extra pair of socks, I brought long underwear and even another bra. I’m not embarrassed to say that. It’s wet out here, and I’m going to do my best to stay warm.

“I guess when you work like this in the elements, it may make you appreciate a desk job more,” she said.

But as uncomfortable as it was for those who must deal with the weather, rain or shine, there were those who professed that it was really no big deal, just a little rain and some wind.

“This isn’t bad,” said Bob Sullivan, a service technician with Pacific Bell, as he stood in the rain working on a telephone switch box in Costa Mesa. “I have a truck with a heater so you can stay warm. Of course, I’d rather be with the rest of the guys in a coffee shop.”

“You can’t have nice weather all the time; and besides, it’s kind of different so that makes it interesting,” added Richard Arsenault, a mail carrier making his rounds on foot through a Santa Ana neighborhood. “And I’m all bundled up with my rain gear and boots . . . keeps me pretty dry and warm.”

And the single red glove on his left hand?

“Well, I got a little cold, and someone along the route gave it to me. I didn’t say it wasn’t cold, just that it wasn’t that cold.”