If You Build it, Rain Will Come

This Autumn has been an especially wet one here in Skopje and my taxi-driver this morning informed me as to why that is. The conversation went something like this:

"How do you like all this rain? We are like London now."

"Oh, it's wonderful. I actually enjoy it very much." [Yes, I did say that and actually mean it!]

"Well, it's because of the two new lakes that we have all this rain."

"Excuse me?"

"Yes! We've had Lake Matka for many years, but now they built two new lakes on the Treska River."

Thinking to myself: I've seen at least one of them and it's not much more than a glorified puddle. And the Treska isn't big like the American River... or the Sacramento... For my Folsom Lake friends: Lake Matka is a tad bit bigger than one of the lakes in Hidden Lakes Estates... ie: a stone-throw-and-a-half across and maybe a quarter mile long.


But I responded, "Really? Honestly, I have a hard time buying that. There's more rain all over, not just in Skopje."

To which he replied with authority, "Oh yes, but it's true! My father is a meteorologist and he did a study on this and he told me this is why we are having more rain. Before 5, 6 years we had maybe 175 days of rain and now we have about 200, but with the new lakes we will have more like 260 days of rain this year!"

"Oh, so that's why they built the lakes?"

"Yes!"

So there you go! "If you build it, Rain will come!" =)