It is beyond cliche, so much so that I will refer to it, for TV and radio news people to recite the title of the 1972 pop song — It Never Rains in Southern California — when it actually does rain in Southern California.

Of course, it rains. Fifteen inches per year in Los Angeles, on average. But both residents and visitors expect mild sun. Even in winter. And rain almost always comes as a surprise.

(Almost no one in Southern California carries an umbrella in their car.)

But this two-day rainstorm, caused by Hurricane Dolores, was so rare it made some history for two Major League Baseball franchises, the Anaheim Angels and San Diego Padres.

To wit:

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A lesson on how bad the drought has been in the “Golden (tilting towards brown) State”.

It rained here today, and Californians were more joyful, verging on giddy, in reacting to it than are Emiratis, for whom rain is even more rare.

We were on Fletcher Avenue, behind Griffith Park in Los Angeles, when we saw two seemingly spontaneous reactions to “water from the sky”.

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I work in a room with dozens of Britons, and their interest in Major League Soccer extends about one team deep:

The LA Galaxy.

For two reasons:

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When Americans — Californians, in particular — return home from overseas, one of their highest priorities is having Mexican food. Which is unavailable in many parts of the world and is substandard in much of the rest.

Thus …

We had Mexican for the third time in two weeks, the other night, and it was the best yet: Juanita’s Homemade Mexican Food, from a shack on Grand Avenue in Grover Beach, in the Pismo Beach area. She has been running the place for more than a decade.

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It is unusual to see private homes built right on the sand of the Pacific Ocean, in California. As is the one in which we are staying.

It is even more unusual to sit inside that home and watch hundreds of recreational vehicles roll past on their way to the Ocean Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area (photo courtesy Scott Cook).

The park begins about a mile south of where we are staying, and which we have dubbed the Max Max Encampment, inspired particularly by Mad Max 2, the post-apocalyptic movie from 1981, starring Mel Gibson, which features settlements encircled by large motor vehicles.

That’s the Oceano Dunes.

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Monday, the scorched and dry hills.

Today, the dramatic cliffs and crashing surf of Montana de Oro State Park.

The latter is pretty much immune to the California drought — and it made for a very fine Central Coast hike.

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We went on a short hike today, above Lopez Lake, about 10 miles inland on Highway 227 from Pismo Beach.

California is suffering through a drought of historical proportions, and it is particularly noticeable here in San Luis Obispo County, where the hills often remain green right through the summer.

(As opposed to Southern California, where the hills and mountains go brown every year.)

The drought, now in its third year, has led to water rationing and mandatory cutbacks on watering lawns.

When we got to Lopez Lake, we saw why that should be.

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We invited several dozen people over to the Pismo beach house for Day 3 of the wedding, which has turned into the brunch/lunch affair, often held out of doors, in the summer sun.

It was carefully planned.

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Three weddings on three continents in 22 days. With not much in common aside from “pretty much everyone was happy”.

Doesn’t make me an expert, but I’ve had cause/time to think about weddings.

Today’s list: Ten observations about weddings, circa 2015. In no particular order.

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This is becoming a thing, isn’t it? The three-day wedding. We saw it last month in Greece.

Sunday is the day-after brunch/lunch.

Saturday is the event.

And Friday?

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