Pouring rain here in NYC.

[hrmjustin]

My allergies are bad so I hope it helps in anyway possible.

[DesertFlower]

1. hope it helps. my friend in NYC

said her allergies are very bad this year.

[hrmjustin]

2. Yes my allergies and asthma are horrible.

[Warpy]

3. That's the only good thing about the heavy rains last week

in NM and CO. The air was washed clean and it's still pretty clean.

2 days since the last thunderstorm and torrential downpour and we're finally starting to dry out.

Rain tomorrow, though.

[hrmjustin]

4. I can breath normally this morning.

[Warpy]

5. You mean you can't see the air?

I thought New Yorkers never trusted air they couldn't see.

[hrmjustin]

6. LOL. yes the air is claer today so I can breath.

[DesertFlower]

7. i lived in NYC for the first 48 years of my life.

i'd get my beige car washed in the morning. by 3 pm in the afternoon it had fine black dirt all over it. this is what i was breathing. i had a facial every month and there were always blackheads. since i moved to phoenix, i've never had a blackhead.

i took allergy meds 3-4 times a day. i would wake up with my eyes swollen. kept a cold sinus mask in the refrigerator to put over my eyes. even when i got to work at 9 am i still had some swelling around my eyes.

i rarely take an allergy pill here and phoenix is considered to have bad air. i'll take this over new york any day.

[Warpy]

11. Funny, I skipped NYC

since when I fled Dogpatch, I knew I was too green to cope with that big a city, Boston was more my speed.

I didn't think the air in Boston was that dirty until the first time I blew my nose and it came out black. I didn't see the stars for 20 years, either, from light pollution and car exhaust.

It's amazing what you can tolerate. Moving out west cleared my sinuses immediately and I can get 2 years out of one Flonase bottle.

I miss Boston, of course, and often think of going back. Then I remember how nasty my upper respiratory system always felt and I bag the idea. I'm totally spoiled by the desert.

[DesertFlower]

13. i've been in phoenix 24 years and

have never been back to NY. the only thing i miss is the food.

[Warpy]

14. I miss seafood the most

although a Costco membership gets me access to decent flash frozen stuff. It's still not the same as going to a wholesaler, buying it off the boat, or going to a restaurant that specializes in things that swim.

I also miss all the intercultural stuff and all the energy students brought to the town. I miss street life, something this city has nothing of unless you count drunks screaming at anything near them. I miss buskers in subway stations and out on the street, a steel band on one block giving way to a string quartet when you turned the corner.

I don't miss those damned winters. I don't miss the ridiculously expensive and often strange housing. I don't miss the pollution.

[DesertFlower]

15. i miss the fish stores, butcher shops and

bakeries. here everything has to be bought in the supermarket.

the street life was interesting especially in the summer. that was the only time of year i liked. i loved the beach, but stopped going when hyperdermic needles started washing up.

i don't miss the crowds, the traffic and the horns blowing.

i loved the street vendors and artists who were on 42nd st. between 5th and 6th on fridays during the summer.

[DesertFlower]

8. glad you're feeling better.

[hrmjustin]

9. Well it has gotten worse tonight and there will be no rain for a week.

[DesertFlower]

10. so sorry.

[hrmjustin]

12. Thanks. I just bought a 30 day supply of Claritin.