Melbourne, Australia February 2008
“It has been bucketing down here. Flooding everywhere. Roof leaking like you wouldn’t believe”.
No you wouldn’t believe it. Not a drop to be seen. That you can believe. The Weather Bureau is still talking about showers. I heard somebody else express the same sentiments on the radio. WHERE IS THIS RAIN THEY KEEP TALKING ABOUT?
We’re crying out for rain and up north they’re crying out “Enough already it’s ruining the cricket”. Other places around the world are suffering floods. Why can’t we get some good, regular, replenishing rain.
It amazes me to hear people referring to rain in a negative sense. “The forecast is for fine (said with a smile) weather but there is a chance (said with a frown and dip in tone) of rain. “It’ll be fine for the cricket”, the tennis, the whatever. “It was a lovely sunny day in Melbourne today”. Puts a new meaning to the term “Fair weather friends”. But some people here in this city still waste water as though there is plenty to go around. “Got to keep the footy oval green”. “When are the water restrictions going to be lifted?”, I hear people say. Pluvialis horribilis indeed!! The drought continues with no end in sight.
Soon the only place you’ll see an umbrella is in a museum. Wearing a raincoat – not likely. Does anybody still have a pair of galoshes? If they do they can’t have been worn for a long time. I remember the way things used to be all those years ago. Back when you heard the expressions “Can’t go outside because it is raining!” or “We better take out rain insurance lest it spoils our fete”. “Just walking in the rain”. “I’m singing in the rain”. “Raindrops keep falling on my head”.
Oh for those halcyon days of wet afternoons. I can but remember those times when it rained all day and all night. No water restrictions. When Elizabeth Street flooded in 1971. I’ve seen those photographs taken when the Yarra River used to break its banks (1891 – *the level rose fourteen metres above normal) .
Oh for those rainy days. Anyway I’m still waiting for the rain.
*source www.yarrariver.info/history.htm \
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