[MBCook]

Sure enough here is a citation I was able find easily from 1860.

I should have known better. Can’t trust even simple things these days.

https://books.google.com/books?id=V2AEAAAAQAAJ&pg=RA4-PA169&...

[coldpie]

> Can’t trust even simple things these days.

"These days," as opposed to that glorious time in the past when you could trust anything some random stranger said to you.

[sumy23]

That usage doesn’t seem idiomatic. Like it’s literally saying the rain in this area is heavy.

[MBCook]

True. But I just chose an early one. There were others. Seems to have been a phrase even if not idiomatic yet.