Rain

Never go out without an umbrella in the rainy season. I know this so why do I often get caught? Last night we went for a walk to the video shop and got caught in an absolute downpour on the way home. After 5 minutes of running through it, I spotted an umbrella in a stand in an empty ATM lobby of a bank. Umbrellas are more or less public property here and if you find one, it’s fair game so I took it. I gave it to David and went into a corner shop and bought another one for me. The shop assistants seemed more amused than annoyed at my squelching sandals getting their floor wet. They were smirking at my running mascara too.

We have dozens of umbrellas at home and didn’t need the 2 new ones, so I vowed to pass them on to someone else who had been caught in the rain when we got to our apartment building. Nearer home, I spotted three drenched men and attracted their attention to do my good deed. I had underestimated how alarming a dripping wet foreigner with panda eyes must look in the dark – they started to run away from me! I suppose I did look a bit of a banshee. David tried and this time they understood that we weren’t trying to scare or mug them, but just give them our umbrellas. They beamed and accepted the gifts shouting their appreciation in English as they disappeared off into the rainy night “Sank you! Sank you! Sank YOOOOOOOOO!”