Summer rain

Just as you think you can bear the sticky heat no longer, a monsoon arrives. The skies darken to night in brief minutes and with a sudden rush, great sheets of rain fall and loudly splatter the parched earth, the splashes rising several inches with the ferocity of the clouds.

Naturally if you are small, this is the moment you choose to find a friend for the recently captured caterpillar who is lounging (or maybe cowering) in a pot on the kitchen table.


I love the rain and revel in the warmth and strength of the water as it hurls itself from the sky, great rivulets running down my coat and dripping noisily on to the floor. The world smells wonderfully clean and fresh as the sun reappears just as quickly as it left but, seeing an even bigger black cloud lurking nearby, I ponder the wisdom of an evening on an outdoor netball court.