The Wet Season

I love rain. Really, I do. There's something about how the sound of it pattering on the roof of my house is just so soothing and beautiful and wonderful; especially at night when we're all trying to sleep and it's hot. Then, it begins to rain and a cool breeze filters in through the window. After that, we're done. Our eyes close and we off to the land of nod.

Rain isn't just something that cleanses our planet. It feeds our plants and makes everything turn from brown to green. The birds fly and screech as it pours from the gray skies and gurgles along the gutters of our houses, down the pipes and into the storm water drains of our cities. A gray, dreary day makes us all feel very sleepy and tired, but then maybe, it's a good day to stay inside and watch a movie marathon of your favourite movie star or read a good book, catch up on letter writing or computing and the internet; or cleaning the house.
There's plenty to do inside the house while it's raining outside it. I am never bored when it comes to a good rainy day. Even when I have laundry to do, I get in and put on a load of it, pull out the clothes horse and then read part of book, do some painting, wash up, tidy up part of a room in the house and then, I'll put on some really up-beat music. A wet day is never wasted at my house; even if it looks like I am whiling away the hours doing nothing; I'm not. All I'm waiting for is the time when I can get back outside for the few hours to do the rest of the laundry, mow the lawn and clean up the garden. Then, I'll wipe down one of the seats and read part of a book in the shade of one of the Lilly-Pilly's and enjoy the beauty of my garden after the rain.

But it's when the rain turns into flooding that it can become dangerous. I've been in places where rivers have broken their banks and we had to evacuate a few days early. However that was the easy part. Getting home was the challenge. That was years ago and I was very young.
I remember some years back - when I drove a car - I had to drive through a flooded road. Now, I had been trained by my Dad how to do it in theory. In theory I could do it; I knew how to do it in my head, but I hadn't actually done it in my little Celica. Now, for those of you who don't know, I used to own a 1981 Toyota Celica Liftback. They are low to the ground and are known as sports cars; and are not good when it comes to driving through flooded roads. I remember the policeman asking if I could was able to do this. I said Dad had taught me but I hadn't actually done it before. He nodded and reminded me to dry out my brakes once I was through. I turned off my radio and concentrated on driving through it. The creepiest thing about it I remember very clearly was the sound of the water gurgling under the floor! It nearly spooked the hell out of me! But I kept the revs up and got through it! I was so proud! And I remembered to dry out my brakes too... pity the guy behind didn't. He caused an accident not far from my workplace because he hadn't dried his brakes out (but I digress). Since then, flooded roads haven't been my favourite things to cross - whether I'm driving them or a passenger - but I know how it feels to be behind the wheel and need to stay calm about the whole thing.

So, while rain can be a wonderful thing in one form; it can turn in to a menace if it doesn't stop when we wish (or hope) it to. Storms are just as dangerous; but that's for another post another time.