The past few days it has rained. Not that I am not used to that. When you live on the west coast of Canada in the province of British Columbia (BC), it has the rightfully earned nickname of the WET coast of Canada. They sell T shirts that proclaim the rainy season to be from January 1st to December 31st. Here the rainy season is typically is May to October. It means that during that time, you are more likely to experience rain. The prime difference between BC rain and Phuket rain, is firstly that it is warm here. I recalled going out to get Annie, as she get freeze fright, that is where she simply freezes in place, when the winds roar and the thunder starts. I was looking for a jacket or something to cover my head, when I realized, that I had probably had showers that were colder than the rain that was falling. And I was right. So out I went, as the rain fell in huge buckets and doused me in seconds, but it was warm.
The second difference is that in BC it may rain, but it is usually a steady misty type of rain, with some occasional days when it pours down. In that case you have to have a jacket or hat because you will get soaked, but it is a cold rain. Thirdly the difference is that it may pour buckets here, but it lasts maybe 15 minutes, whereas in BC when it starts, you never know if or when it will stop, and normally a period of a few hours or even days is not uncommon. In previous posts, I told how you can predict the rain here and the signs that immediately precede a dousing. To rely on any weather forecasting page is probably less reliable than looking in the sky. On one of my iTouch weather applications for instance, it would look like it is only ever cloudy and lightening storms. I think I may have once seen it say that it was sunny here and possibly twice that it was raining. Even less reliable are those weather web pages, or the local paper projections. No different than back in Canada I suppose.
Well right now we are supposed to be in the dry season. This normally translates as a time when it is very hot, the nights may cool down to 24 degrees Celsius, the daytime's soar to the high 30's or even low 40's. You tend to put things off to tomorrow, as it will always be dry. So this week, I was put off somewhat when it began to rain daily. And as each days rain came it intensified in it's strength and duration. For the most part, I was glad I had taken my motorcycle rider training in BC, because it rained on my road skills classes and during my actual licensing tests. If you don't like the rain or think you can't ride a motorcycle in it, then you probably should not own a motorcycle in BC unless you like the novelty of getting about 2 months of the year you can ride. So while I have not much concern about my driving abilities in the rain, the same cannot be said for the others on the roads here. Having seen my posts about driving, you can understand that when you add a factor of wet slick roads, the driving conditions become very much more dangerous. Firstly the road surface which has been baking in the heat of the tropical sun, has a way of becoming like someone spread grease on it, when the rains come. And to top this off, the rain sometimes has nowhere to go or the drainage system cannot handle the sudden flash influx of water, so the roadway become like a running creek. This is of course a problem, as this has a way of hiding such jems as pot-holes, and then there is the issue of the water, warm water mind you, splashing or running over your feet. I invested in a very good helmet, which as a visor. The visor gets left pretty much in the upright positions, except for when it rains. As I wear eyeglasses, it provides me some barrier between the rain and my eyeglasses. The same cannot be said for about 90% of the other drivers on motorbikes. I have yet to master what I think is the most amazing driving accessory, the open umbrella. Held at a tilted angle so that the rain stays out of your face, and limiting your visibility to about one meter in front of your motorbike. I have seen everything from produce bags to towels wrapped around faces, and the ever present, hand held at an angle or covering your face, with a slit provided for one eye to see. I have always wondered about those shower caps you tend to find in hotel rooms. It hearkens me back to my childhood when women would have elaborate hairdressing done and then want to shower and cover their hair to not ruin the "doo". Until now I had assumed the packaged shower cap never got used in the hotel rooms these days, but they are spotted on motorbike drivers, in lieu of a helmet.
This then brings me to the issue of cars and trucks. I used to hold a rambling dialogue, mostly by myself, when I was in Canada and would see people driving at 100+ KMH in the snow. I even heard some people at work one day all excited because they had purchased 4 wheel drive SUV's, in the belief that this put up an invisible force-field, making them impervious to the road conditions. These same people would rush past in snow, and I would inevitably see them trying to 4 wheel drive themselves out of the road ditch, where they had careened. Unfortunately for them , the snow and ice, did not see them as impervious to mother nature. Now transfer this logic to cars and trucks in torrential rain on slick roads. Add to this the fact that in many cases, the extreme tropical heat is not a friend to the rubber on windscreen blades. All in all it is highly inadvisable to not ride in heavy rain here, unless it is absolutely necessary. And in that event, simply drive assuming that whatever motor vehicle is approaching you, the driver will not be able to see you. So I was not that disappointing to have my patrol canceled due to extreme weather. Well one night has now turned into 5 days and nights of pounding rain and high winds. I took the dogs for their beach walk 2 days ago, sencing a break in the rain, only to get 1/2 way on the walk when the winds started snapping off the fronds on the coconut palms and the rain poured. I pack a zip lock bag with me for my cellphone and wallet, having been caught once before, and it came in handy again. We were a sorry sight when we finally got home, with water dripping from all of us. Byron, was so happy to be home he stood beside ma and shook off all his excess water, so now I was wet and smelled like a wet dog. The rain and winds continued and I have noticed suddenly I have a chorus of frogs around me. Like lots and lots and lots of frogs. I tried to record it to post, but the howling winds drown out the sound of the frogs. The sound of the howling winds is so loud in the house that it seems like a hurricane scene from a movie. And then I heard the sound of dripping water. The water had managed to by now seep into the roof and was dripping on the door frame header to the second bedroom. Then it began to drip along the window sills in the living room. No matter how well built it is, with the force driven rain, any small space is going to let the water in. I am very happy however, that so far, we have continued to have power and internet without interruption.
There is a large concert planed for this weekend, called Love Aid Phuket. It is an event to raise money to help out those affected in japan by the tsunami and earthquake. The people of Phuket have experienced first hand the devastating effects of a tsunami. Unfortunately now, it has had to be postponed. The provincial governor last night issued watch notices for flooding and landslides. There is no expected let-up to this weather for the next 5 days. I feel sorry for the tourists who are stuck in hotel rooms. I did see some brave souls headed to the speedboats for their island boat tours. The waves were crashing all along the coastline and I saw the speedboats bouncing like corks, but some people may like that adventure side to their vacation I guess. I look out to the back yard and see the pool is overflowing.......
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