Saturday 29 August 2009

Has the Wuxi weather switch flicked?

The last week has been characterised by hot, humid and stormy weather. Each afternoon has brought a huge storm. But, waking up on Saturday morning, I felt cold. The weekend has been cold (okay, so I'm still wearing shorts and a t-shirt, but cold compared to the past few weeks) and it is extremely windy. So, I'm wondering, has the Wuxi weather switch flicked. I am hoping that this is the case, because I was sick of the storms, for the following reasons. Firstly, thunder is not the only sound you will hear during a storm. The minute a loud noise happens, all scooter alarms simultaneously begin their whining and beeping. The same is true if you happen to walk too closely to the scooter, and heaven forbid you accidentally bump the scooter! Secondly, the drainage system on many of the roads appears to be non-existent, or certainly not able to cope with the heavy rains. On many afternoons, I have ridden through mini rivers on my way home from school. As I write this, I am looking over the construction site opposite my apartment is rapidly filling up and resembling a dam as opposed to a future block of apartments. During the holidays, I was regularly kept up to date with the status of storms and storm damage from those still working at school. The first email I received simply said, ‘Dear all, the school has had a flood. See attached pictures’. The pictures showed several sections of ceiling caved in and classrooms ankle deep in water. Not good. The second email read, ‘Dear all, there has been a typhoon and lots of rain. We lost all the audio equipment.’ Even worse. Luckily, the school’s building partner kindly provided the money to replace everything. So, here's hoping that the rainy season is over!

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