Gladys Hampton stood by the Macy’s entrance on the Del Amo Style Middle staring on the rain, the puddles and the road of drivers searching for a parking area.
Someplace on the market was her automobile, and she or he must speed-walk to keep away from getting too moist.
However not like some consumers on the mall in Torrance, Hampton didn’t thoughts any of this one bit.
“My opinion could be totally different if I had kids,” she mentioned. “You need to pack ’em up, wrap ’em up.”
She mentioned procuring on a wet day had its professionals and cons.
“On the plus facet, the mall will not be that busy,” she mentioned. “It feels Christmas-y — the climate.”
Hampton couldn’t consider a con, simply one other optimistic facet to the rain.
“It could be subjective to me as a result of I just like the gloomy climate.”
Contained in the mall, the Christmas music was taking part in, sneakers had been squeaking, and households had been ready to take photographs with Santa Claus.
Sitting down on a bench, 59-year-old Trini Johnson took a break from procuring along with her 14-year-old niece.
Johnson was recovering from a knee harm and would have most popular to remain dwelling in mattress sleeping earlier than her work shift , however her niece wanted to do some last-minute procuring.
“In every single place we go, I’m on the lookout for a chair,” she mentioned.
She mentioned getting out of the automobile within the rain was “horrible” and “terrible.”
Johnson mentioned she was not a fan of chilly, moist, gloomy climate.
“I hate carrying jackets,” she mentioned.
Johnson and her niece had been coming from Mid-Metropolis and took facet streets as a result of she refuses to drive on the freeway. She mentioned the final time she drove within the rain, she was within the quick lane when a automobile on the other facet of the freeway splashed water on her windshield, quickly blocking her view.
“I didn’t know whether or not to press on the brakes or not,” she mentioned. “It scared the hell out of me.”
Exterior of such scary moments, the 12 months has been a troublesome one for Johnson. It is going to be the primary vacation with out her husband, who died earlier this 12 months.
She mentioned they had been separated however had been nonetheless married and intensely shut.
She mentioned it had been an adjustment.
“I’ve to name an everyday plumber and other people to assist me round the home,” she mentioned, “whereas I used to name him and it will get fastened.”
She mentioned the gloomy climate wasn’t serving to. Nonetheless, she mentioned, every little thing could be OK.
“I’ll see him once more and my dad and mom, in the future,” she mentioned.
Elsewhere within the mall, Ana Leon, 37, and her mom, Socorro Diaz, 63, had simply wandered contained in the mall and headed to a espresso store.
“Un cafecito primero,” Leon mentioned. “A espresso first.”
As she sipped on a espresso, Leon mentioned her sneakers and socks had been moist.
The mom and daughter hadn’t traveled far. They dwell in Lawndale and hadn’t deliberate on procuring, not on a wet day.
“Lots of people drive too quick or too sluggish,” Leon mentioned. “After which there’s the massive puddles.”
So what made them take the journey to the mall on one of many 12 months’s rainiest days?
“We forgot some individuals’s presents,” Leon mentioned, chuckling. Her mother, holding her cup with two arms, laughed. “However we don’t have to inform them that.”
Requested how she felt about having to stroll with moist socks and sneakers whereas procuring, she mentioned the espresso was serving to and she or he solely wanted to buy three items.
“Possibly some new sneakers and socks,” Leon mentioned, smiling.
