Leaving the classroom the teacher says to me jokingly, Claire, it’s your fault that it’s raining! It’s funny the things that pass from country to country. They managed to miss that one off the chart of English stereotypes on the classroom wall though – ‘Rain makes me feel at home’ did not feature among ‘I never refuse a drink’, ‘I live in the past’ and ‘I don’t speak a foreign language’.
Yesterday the clouds covered Perpignan in a blanket of white and the wind began to whip up the leaves on the ground. Come early evening the rain had arrived; buckets of it were pouring down, frantically trying to wash our car and anything else in sight! Over the mountains Perpignan’s Mordor was gently raging: burning clouds stained red at the edges under a very angry sky. Forks of purple lighting split open the sky before us –dangerous but definitely beautiful.
For an English girl this was unusual. Sure, I’m used to the rain but this was a full on storm. The people I know here are right – I might have brought the rain, but this creation was a mixture I’ve not seen before.
The best part was waking up this morning and seeing sunlight breaking through the shutters. Everybody quickly explained that of course when it rains it only rains for one day. It’s just to clear the sky so that the next day it’s a fresh blue again and the green canopy of trees is shade rather than shelter.
Does it rain a lot where you live? Do you like rainy weather?
