We’ve had a couple of wild storms but a few days ago the bedding got wet, for only the second time ever and then it happened again today too.
I ’m grateful Ian saw the storm arrive and battened down the hatches at the back of the Aerie late in the afternoon just a few days ago.
I was sound asleep in the living room when the storm hit but due to the thunderous sound, I awoke and wandered out onto the terrace, immediately saving a cushion from being completely drenched and rescuing a card that had blown off the fridge door and was floating in a pool of water rapidly approaching the front door. We often hear the approach of rain before we see it.
Over lunch just that day we had said to Mary that there had been almost no rain recently and only threats, dark skies and drizzle.
In the seconds it took Ian to react to the approaching storm having felt the wind coming through the back from his spot in the living room, my side of the bed was drenched through the open windows and the swimming gear drying on the back balcony was dripping wet again.
When I was awakened by the thunderous noise of the rain on the corrugated iron roof above us and over the the terrace, Ian was already mopping waves of water out the back door onto the balcony and closing it to prevent more coming in.
It was impossible to hear each other over the racket. I actually startled him even though I had been calling his name from the moment I woke up in the living room and wandered onto the terrace looking for him.
Within ten minutes the rain had stopped the sky was dark and as night descended a startling pink sky emerged through the gloom.
A few days later the rain started moments after we got into a tuk tuk some distance from home and it bucketed down. We climbed the stairs and were soaked to the skin by the time we reached the front door. For the next few hours it slowed, then picked up again, then positively poured down, in cycles. Steady soaking rain persisted for several hours. Hence the third dampening of the bedding through the open windows.
Wow, finally the rain everyone has been wishing for, but with it comes instant flooding and hazards on some roads. At least unlike many places the floating garbage in our hood does not contain taped up polystyrene boxes full of other household and market waste.
Last night we attended a soft opening party for a salon in our hood. It was a huge event conducted on the footpath in front of several different shops and attended by at least fifty people. Food and beer flowed, with an upbeat musical background that actually enabled conversation. Tables were set up as more family, guests, friends, neighbours and the proprietors of adjoining businesses joined in.
When the rain started up we all rose and moved the table under whatever cover was available and carried on. There was dancing in the street and traffic continued on its way with motor scooter riders unfazed by the drenching and simply getting on with things.
The Khmer embrace the rain and both children and adults delight in playing in it. While we few foreigners took to the cover of awnings there was never a suggestion that we should now abandon the celebration. It was all just part of the fun. Most guests waited the rain out but some were happy enough to climb into their vehicles or jump on the their motos once the downpour was reduced to a mere drizzle.
Just one more reason to love our hood.
Today undeterred we headed off to the local market as was the plan even though the rain had already started.
In fact I think the first drops fell just moments after I pegged the last item of washing on the line. No point attempting to bring it indoors to dry and we do have space because of course the rain stopped and a few hours later it was dry anyway.
Only one casualty of the recent rains and the mobile shoe repairman fixed it this afternoon when he emerged in his usual position on the street.
