Rain

I love listening to the sound of rain in the evenings. I think it takes me right back to my childhood, when it rained fairly often and with great ferocity at times. We lived in Wellington, which has been meanly called "windy Wellington" many a time. As a true-born Wellingtonian, I must point out that statistically, Palmerston North has higher, more consistent bad wind than good old Welly. And that the wind does usually drive away any smog, so the city is sparkling. But I digress. Wind being battered on windows and roofs reminds me of night times as a child, when I would lie snuggled up in bed listening to yet another southerly trying to pummel our house to bits. As our house was made of concrete, with brick over the top of that, it never budged an inch. My friend's house, on the other hand, used to creak and groan and whine something chronic and I'd have trouble sleeping when we had sleepovers there. But at my house, the wind and rain simply reminded me of how snug I was. Even gale force winds never had an effect. We always wondered why our roof stayed so securely in place, especially on the occassions we saw bits of neighbour's roofs flying down the road (yes, I do remember several of these occassions). Then my dad repainted our roof, and discovered it had at least twice the usual amount of nails required. Yup, I loved the feeling of security in that house. I should point out that not ALL of Wellington is that wild either...we did live on a hill right over Cook Strait so we got the worst of it. I remember having trouble keeping the car door open long enough to get in without getting squashed of a morning when heading out to school. I remember standing face to the wind, arms outflung, to see if it would actually pick me up (but only when it wasn't really bad - I never did attempt that in the really wild weather as it probably would have blown pea-stick me a few metres backwards!). I used to love sitting and eating my breakfast, gazing out our full length lounge windows, watching the Inter Island Ferry and being oh, so glad I was not on it that day, as it exited the harbour and hit the swell and the spray from the waves would spray up and over it's giant funnel!

So why am I thinking of rain and wind? Because it is raining and it is windy! It has been so fine here for so long, I'd almost forgotten what a good bit of rain would feel like. I even headed out for a nice walk with Munchkin and the backpack just a couple of hours ago. We had a lovely walk, enjoying the breeze (as it was then) and didn't even get wet at all...a good thing as the umbella would not have been useful and Boyo's big jacket that I took just in case probably wouldn't have done much to keep the both of us dry! But a short while after we got home, we got to watch rain drops lashing against our front door. I am still listening to them hit against the windows and looking forward to the sound continuing as I go to bed. The wind has picked up. I'm glad that Boyo and I brought Munchkin's little mandarin tree into the conservatory earlier instead of leaving it in the exposed position it was in.

I know that tomorrow I will probably be sick of the rain. It is not really convenient, you know. There's the washing to get dry, and we have the car warrant to get tomorrow so are meant to be doing some errands around town while we wait for that...I can't see that being at all comfortable in this kind of weather. Plus I've got gardening to do up at the Big Garden, which I am so not about to attempt in wet weather, particularly with a Munchkin in tow. Later in the week I'm meant to be going on an outing with my mum, and maybe to a lifegroup BBQ at the beach - hmm, I think Boyo said that this would probably blow over tonight but that there may be other wet weather following it? Entertaining Munchkin gets a bit difficult when it is wet. He just loves being outside, it is the best thing ever for keeping him happy. Particularly when he's really tired in the evenings at present, and just hanging out for bed but we need to use another 30-60minutes before it is time for the final bath/milk/bed routine, a walk is about the only thing I know of that successfully keeps both him and me peaceful and happy! We can walk in drizzle, and we can walk in wind, but walking in both wind and rain gets a little problematic. The stroller does have a rain cover, and I do have wet weather leggings and jacket...but the time that I did attempt it in the rain, Munchkin got so steamed up in there he couldn't see a thing. Which means he will either cry, or fall asleep (likely both, and neither of which I am wanting when it is only an hour till bedtime!). I got steamed up too. The leggings get a bit hot. The hood of my jacket is not the best, and water drips down my face, into my eyes, and down my neck. You get the idea. We are pretty intrepid and can be found out and about in most weather, but sometimes you do have to tell yourself it is foolishness and stay put inside. The current weather being one of those times.

So I will probably get a bit sick of rain after 12 hours or so. But for now, I am enjoying the rain, knowing that the ground is gratefully soaking up the much-needed and longed for damp, and I am enjoying the bit of wildness. I'm about to sit down and do some knitting. Oh, the bliss. Knitting, and rain. A good evening.

Amy

Tuesday, 18th January, 2011