Rain!

Finally some rain. I feel happy every time those wonderful drops of water fall on us. Well, almost every time. At times, when it's pouring down, I begin to feel a bit worried about the damage it may cause. After all, I have been there before...

Last year half of the wall collapsed the day before I was travelling to Sweden. Bad timing to say the least. So what else to do than to postpone the trip by a week, call in the masons and dig out my holiday budget to pay for the new wall (yes, we had forgotten to get home insurance, sometimes both my mum and I forget that I am living here on a permanent basis now). Luckily, the day before my postponed flight, the new wall was up and ready.

What amazes me most about the rain here though, is how afraid people are of it. MJ and I have discussed this on a rainy day in Gothenburg. We came to the conclusion that all people from countries with heavy rain completely freak out when there's rainfall. MJ's father who is from former Yugoslavia, wouldn't dare leave the house without an umbrella even if there's just a sprinkling of water drops. MJ's stories from people running around 'escaping' the rain in Belgrade are so similar to what I see in Ghana, and surely, England (possibly the rainiest place in the world, ;)) has more umbrellas per capita than any other country.

A few weeks ago, as I was about to walk the 20 metres to my car from an office in heavy rain (without an umbrella), a man said "Ey, madam, are you sure you can make it?" as if I were making my way through lions and tigers. Yesterday, a meeting was almost delayed as the guys who were coming to sign an agreement didn't have an umbrella. As I watched them sit in their car for a good 10 minutes before daring the rain under the protection of the car's dusters, I couldn't help but yell "It's only water!!".

This behaviour is so foreign to someone who loves nothing more than walking around Kungssten in the lovely summer rain, enjoying the smell of freshness brought out by the rain and only covering my head with a hoodie, when the heaviest raindrops come falling down.