Friday, October 28, 2016

Celebrate the Small Things: a little shower

One thing I have noticed since moving to Darwin is that the weather is not usually a small talk topic, except for the month of October which is known as 'the build up'.

It's hot here. I mean it ranges from hot to hotter. Overnight temps hang in the mid twenties (celsius), while maximums are mid to high thirties. It's pretty much been the same since I arrived. When the weather is so entirely predictable, there doesn't seem much point in talking about it. People don't say, 'It's hot today' because it's always hot. Mark Twain's famous quote is meaningless in Darwin because no none complains about the weather.

October is called 'the build up' because it is the month leading into the wet season and is therefore characterized by ridiculous humidity: 96% yesterday, for example. The temperature stays the same pretty much, but the humidity? Whoa. Try stepping off an air-conditioned bus and having your glasses instantly fog completely because of the heat. Yes, that's steamy!

A peculiar weather event happened last Saturday and it had everybody scratching their heads. It rained overnight on Friday which is not terribly unusual, but the next day it kept raining-lightly mind you, but it rained all day and the maximum temperature only reached 26. It was in fact the coldest October day ever recorded in Darwin.

I set off on foot for gym that Saturday morning in the light rain, and briefly contemplated using the umbrella which I carry with me everywhere, in case of a sudden tropical downpour. There was a nice cool breeze blowing and the rain felt so nice and smelled so fresh, I decided to not use the brolley. I did get a little wet, but what  a joy it was to walk in the rain. It was magical.

The weather anomaly ended the following day, but I will never forget the invigorating respite that little bit of a shower provided. So today I am giving thanks for rain.

4 comments:

  1. I don't do well in humidity - much prefer dry heat if it has to be hot. Over here in the UK we don't have much to complain of when it comes to the heat but we do of course - us Brits are world famous for including weather in our daily conversations! Glad you enjoyed your unusual rain shower and as you say it is those little things that should quite rightly be celebrated. Enjoy your weekend, DA :) Special Teaching at Pempi’s Palace

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  2. Thanks for your comment. Quite right. I think every one loves to have a good belly ache about the weather, but there is no cause when you live in a place with very little variation. Pretty sure if I ever got to England, I would happily complain about the weather.

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  3. It's amusing that my post was about rain too, but not a light invigorating one. Egypt is horribly hot, only now dropping to the mid 20s, but we have no humidity, so yours sounds so much worse. I wish you more light invigorating rains! Have a good weekend and Happy Halloween!

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  4. How nice to have a little 'break' day of rain like that. Our humidity hangs around 80-90s in summer as well, and I am not fan. But the worst are those mid-20 nights w/ the humidity. Glad you got to cool of a little!

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