I can see puddles
December 12th 2008 23:37
And the news from south-eastern Australia is that it is raining.
It is a warm, steady, rose-petal ruffling, early summer rain. It is a drought-breaking, catchment-filling, crop-making, farmer-yodelling rain.
It has been raining steadily for 36 hours, and follows other good falls earlier this week. It is the sort of rain which 10-year-old children around here have never seen.
There is no negative that can be attached to this whatsoever, unless it is the teensiest hint of inconvenience when, at 7am today, it was time to take the dogs for a walk.
In his 1968 novel In Watermelon Sugar, Richard Brautigan has a scene where three people are walking in the rain. One, dressed in a suit, is scrunched up and miserable. The other two, dressed as free spirits and probably with flowers in their hair, are walking with their faces turned upwards savouring the wonder and joy of nature's munificence and ... you get my drift.
All these years after reading the book, I still feel ashamed when I cringe at the idea of walking in the rain. Dammit, I thought this morning, grabbing the dog leads and shoving a flower in my hair, let's go!
I'm not sure that Scratchy, aged four, or Daisy, aged two, have ever seen a puddle. "Oh look," said Daisy, peering intently into one, "there's a good-looking but slightly out-of-focus dog looking back at me."
We went to the park, which has lots of landscaped gardens and the biggest collection of palm trees this side of Tahiti. The palm trees dripped happily, the warm rain reminding them of the tropical homes of their ancestors.
We saw only one other person, a runner in red singlet and white baseball cap. Given the amount of rain on my glasses, I wished I had a baseball cap. The runner stopped at the public toilet block - one of those modern things with unisex cubicles and flashing lights and enormously complicated instructions and (the runner was stooping now, the better to see the last of the instructions) inconvenient opening hours. The runner said a very rude word and shuffled away in the forlorn hope of finding a dry bush.
We stayed out longer in the rain than expected and enjoyed every minute of it. If I had a baseball cap, I would doff it in salute to Richard Brautigan.
Back home, we walk down the side path to the back of the house, where I fetch an old towel from the shed and give the dogs a rub down before letting them inside. They look like they have had a bath.
Melbourne's reservoir levels are still at just 34 per cent so this rain is universally welcome. With the bonus that you get to walk in it. What could be better?
What's that you said Scratchy? Oh, he thinks the best part was the rub-down with the towel.
"Tell me again, how did the other dog
get in the wotchmacallit - puddle?"
get in the wotchmacallit - puddle?"
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Comment by HoundChef
Strange these furred children. Thanks for the story and as always smile and chuckle.
Janice
Comment by Chris Champion
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Glad you enjoyed. I don't know what my dogs would do if they saw snow. I don't know what I would do, come to think of it. It's been about 20 years since I did see it. Good luck keeping warm through your winter.
Chris