It's the rage!

June 2009 will go down in history as the month where NYC practically drowned. Literally.

Twenty days into this month and it has rained every ... single ... day.

Unstoppable. Relentless. It just keeps coming and coming. We get a moment of sunshine here and there, and then ... it rains again.

Oy vey. No relief for the weary.

Perhaps its global warming or a some kind of fakata pressure system. Whatever. It's annoying. And it won't stop.

This rain has been wrecking havoc on weekend outings, BBQs, baseball games, outdoor parties, you name it. People have had to re-schedule -- and then re-schedule again -- their outdoor activities. Even funerals.

This city is losing its mind.

The New York Times has a great term for psychological effect its having on people -- rain rage.

Count me as one of the raging. It has repeatedly delayed our much anticipated pilgrimage to the new High Line park. Who wants to walk around this amazing new creation ... all wet?

At least it gives me and everyone I know an excuse to stay in doors and be lazy. But it's the summer ... and we New Yorkers want to go out -- literally! -- and have fun!

The only thing to do in a frustrating time like this is to try to see the ... poetry in it. Try to see the ... music. And when it comes to poetry and music and rain in NYC, I can only think of the closing words of Suzanne Vega's timeless "Tom's Restaurant" where she beautifully sings:

"Oh, this rain
It will continue
Through the morning
As I'm listening

To the bells
Of the cathedral
I am thinking
Of your voice...

And of the midnight picnic
Once upon a time
Before the rain began...

I finish up my coffee
It's time to catch the train"