Rain

A lazy morning of pancakes and coffee in a slight state of limbo, with the news that the volcano was kicking up some more dirt. Talk about lightening striking twice; Julianna was stuck in Chicago just a couple of weeks back, but got an extended holiday out of it, staying with friends until they could get back to Blighty. I played host to two stranded blippers for six nights; Was I about to repeat the whole thing?

There was no telling in the early afternoon, so we took ourselves off for a walk, with the intention of catching the first Sunday Chopin concert in the park. Armed with coffee and cake we sat there waiting for the pianist to begin and ten minutes before he did, the heavens opened and so the view was a mass of umbrellas. Did it let up? Did it heck. Thunder and lightening accompanied the music and the rain got heavier and wetter. Our plastic bags (yes, that is an IKEA one in the photo) that we took for sitting on (on the grass) became our shelter but we admitted defeat and headed for home just twenty minutes into the hour-long performance. By the time we got back to the park gates we were getting pretty soaked and then as we walked (and ran) the last couple of hundred metres to the car we got absolutely drenched. We were sodden. I have never, ever seen rain like it - (well I have, but I think it was even worse than that time at the Fuji Rock Festival in Japan...)

The windscreen wipers couldn't go quickly enough and there was so much water on the road, that driving was difficult. We got home though, undressed in the hall-way outside my flat and donned our pyjamas before staking our positions on the sofa for the rest of the evening; watching several episodes of Gavin and Stacey, drinking beer and eating Thai food that we promptly got delivered for supper!