Come Again Another Day

Was it just me or was that storm last night hovering right above my head the entire time?

Dry, sunny summers are one of the things I had to sacrifice moving back to Hong Kong. You see, in Hong Kong we don't really get summers. The only time of the year when we can actually try to enjoy what's supposed to be summer is May, when it's, most of the time, warm enough to wear summer clothes. By June it gets so hot that outings can be fatal. And before you know it, rain season starts and doesn't end till winter comes. And oh, just wait till the typhoons drop by, then you'll know we're in the middle of our SUMMER.

It's not even mid June and we have already been hit with the amber rain warning more times than I have claimed to go on diet. And it doesn't help that someone decided it was amusing to make the first level of rainstorm warning sound like a precious jewel.

In anticipation of rainy summers, I bought myself two nice umbrellas a couple of months ago. One retractable to keep in my bag everyday since one can never tell when it will start to drizzle in Hong Kong, and one regular umbrella because I have made my attempt to survive last summer with only a retractable umbrella and found out that the wind can make it tract and retract every which way. But really, an umbrella is just about useless in the cats and dogs we get unless you got one of those white-orange-green patio umbrellas. And a raincoat will not be a smart move unless you wear underneath it one of those boots-and-pants-in-one that go up to your armpits like people do on the Discovery Channel when they go stride in swamps in search of rare toads. And you will want to have that just-about-useless umbrella handy. "Just about useless" because there is actually some use to it. Without the wee bit protection provided by that umbrella in your hand, you'll realize that the whole purpose of everyone else on the streets holding an umbrella is to jab your eyes out.

Back to that storm last night, I swear to God it was right above my head. I have been more or less (ok, more) afraid of thunderstorms since I was a kid. They sound like an angry parent on the verge of insanity screaming at a child, probably for something he/she didn't even do. There! I think I've just cracked the code, the reason why I'm scared of thunderstorms is because it reminds me of the times when my mother used to scream at my brother and me like mad and beat us for things none of us can remember now.

The storm is still here.