Week 17: Sorry for all the times I ranted at you, Rain

it has been a very wet week in Sydney. and it is perhaps this incessant wetness that is driving me to walk in the rain every day to work and back. yes, i am that crazy girl you see walking down Ross Street with her hands stuffed in her jacket pockets and a big grin on her face, if ever you so happen to be there in the mornings and late evenings.

perhaps it is my upbringing that has compelled me to try to drown myself in the feathery downpour - i don't know! when i was a child, i was strictly told not to play in the rain. my parents, who were usually very lenient in regards to their only daughter child in all aspects of life, adhered to their no-playing-in-the-rain rule with strict almost Machiavellian-like efficiency. no means no. no you CANNOT play in the rain.

in all my childhood life, i can only remember bending their rule once and that was back when i was in standard two. i was corrupted by my bunch of friends who were running back and forth between the shelter, where we waited for our parents to pick us up, and the rain. they would stand right at the edge of the tin roof where the water would drip and fall down like a thin glimmering waterfall and lift their face up to the drops and then grin back at me the most awful grin - the ones that say, oi stupid, why aren't you joining us and revelling in this great fun?! as the rain poured harder, their screams became more frequent and their laughter got louder as they flapped their arms around in the pouring rain and played 'catch' while i stood there sulking and staring at them, wanting so much to join them yet not daring to suffer the wrath that i knew i would cop if my parents saw their only daughter child drenched through her dark blue pinafore.

however, like all fairytales with a happy ending, i ended up joining them in the rain AND IT WAS THE BESTEST FEELING EVER! the cold rain lashing down on my head and blinding my eyes and running down my neck was pure joy - no wonder everyone was screaming and squealing! and then my dad came with an umbrella and when he saw me behaving like a little heathen child running around and jumping into puddles, he said, LEI CHOU MAT YEH AR!? LEI GAU SUI AR! FAN HUI THUNG MAMEE GONG THAI LEI JONG LAU MOU!? (loosely translated to: WHAT ARE YOU DOING? ARE YOU PLAYING WITH WATER? GO BACK TELL YOUR MOTHER SEE IF YOU'LL GET A SCOLDING!)

but i didn't care HAHAHAHA i skipped outside his umbrella as we walked to the car because i reasoned that as i was already wet, i might as well go the full yard. surprisingly, i don't remember anything of the retribution i got so either it wasn't that harsh that's why i forgot all about it, or it was hell-raising akin to Nazism that's why i blanked it out of my memory. either way, that was the last time i ever played in the rain.

so yea - this sudden urge to walk in the rain even though i have a perfectly well and functioning umbrella in the bag is striking me as odd and slightly amusing. the good thing is that, now, when my mom sees me drenched the moment i step into the apartment, she doesn't say anything. YAY to being 23 and too old for reprimanding or a scolding or machiavellian wrath!

ps. i saw a rainbow whilst walking to work. i saw a rainbow yesterday too! and also on monday!
pps. i also saw a rat hiding in the drain. ya rabbi i was walking CLENCHED all the way to work. even the rainbow didn't work to assuage my clench-ness. every orifice, finger and toe was CLENCHED.