Slogging knee-high through the river-like streets of downtown Peabody, Mass., did not bother me, as I had a change of clothes in the car.  I held an umbrella low to protect my camera from the rain.

I sought refuge in a bakery to transmit photographs back to my waiting editor.  Images sent, I retrieved my dry clothes.  Emerging from the establishment's restroom, I saw a radio reporter for Fox News, hunched over her laptop, getting ready to file her report.