Water, water, everywhere (but not a drop to drink)

Hailing from Manchester, as i have for the past few years, you kind of get used to the rain - to the point where it almost becomes a comfort. I, personally, have never minded it much - sure it can be annoying and cold but, at the end of the day, it's just water. Unless you happen to live near Sellafield and then it could probably strip the clothes off your body. But that's another story. Now, living in a semitropical climate means that you occasionally get the odd tropical downpour. Like today. Having a slight gap in experiments, i decided to run home and get a bite to eat. That was my first mistake. My second, as i found out half an hour later, was not to pack any waders in my suitcase. Not that i had any to begin with. Y'see, as i was bounding up my steps, there were a couple of spots of rain that rapidly turned into a storm - thunder, lightening, bucketing rain and wind. Normally, i love storms, particularly when viewed from indoors and i don't have to go back outside in them. Anyway, half an hour later, my stomach was full and i went back out.

Amazing how 30 minutes of rain can turn a perfectly normal street into something resembling a river. Taking the plunge (literally), I blessed my un-naturally long legs and waded out to the main road which hadn't been covered that much, only to be soaked by a passing motorist in his hummer. As if there weren't ENOUGH reasons to hate Humvee drivers! Ultimately, i squelched my way to work and, thankfully, had a change of clothes (my gym stuff but who cares? It was dry!). On the way back, the rain had stopped, the main roads were beginning to drain and it was a short wade back home. As i type this now, the street still looks like a river and a duck has been quacking outside my window for a good 45 minutes (if i had a shotgun, i'd put him out of his misery). With luck (and when low tide arrives), this'll all have gone by the morning. And if not, i'm having Duck a l'orange tomorrow!