Very rainy season

After a couple of very dry months in England, we got home to Pèdè to discover that here in the "dry North" it has been one of the wettest rainy seasons for years. People told us that it had been raining almost every day, and our first week back was exactly like that. It makes it hard to dry laundry, makes it impossible to get in and out of our compound some of the time, and fills up our septic tanks making it hard to drain the shower, but at least it keeps the temperatures down. And the farmers are happy about it ... in fact it's almost too much rain for them!

A lot of life here is determined by the rain. If it is raining hard then people don't come to work. If it is raining hard, there isn't much point going to the market (a few people will be there whatever the weather, but there won't be so much choice). Starting times for meetings will be suspended, and you never quite know when will be the point at which people will finally venture out, and there will be enough of them for it to be worth getting started. Not comfortable for our relatively time-respecting mentality (and a bit of a nightmare when you are trying to plan meals etc!).

It also means that everything is green, which makes a contrast from the yellow and brown scenes we were seeing before we left here in March. And the skies can be wonderful.