Let it rain

After 42 days of unabated, beat-down-on-your-back African sun, rain has finally arrived. It came earlier than expected – the rainy season doesn’t begin until late October or November – and man, did it come.

The air is cool and fresh, rich with the smell of plants and rejuvenated growth, a stark contrast to the searing heat and dust-filled air I’ve been breathing in since my arrival in Zambia.

I’m sitting by the window, looking out over the garden and pool area, avoiding incoming spray. It’s as if the potency of the rainfall had to equalize that of the sun, so that in the absence of oppressive sunlight, there can only be thundering downpour.

You may not be able to relate to my overwhelming sense of relief at the arrival of wet weather. And it may take as little as a week or two of rain for me to start complaining all over again and longing for the heat. For the moment, I’m thoroughly enjoying the change.

Rain beating down on my paradise garden that once was.