Hello MONSOON my old friend........

[Cathie19]

HELLO monsoon my old friend......... it’s nice to talk to you again........ it’s been such a LONG time;

.... now we breathe and am just feelin’ fine........

👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼💧:sweat_droplets::sweat_droplets::sweat_droplets:☔️☔️☔️☔️🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴🎼🎼🎼

The skies have been painted in a flat light grey colour, no visible signs of cloud. The temperature has finally dropped from mid 30s (Celsius) to mid 20s. Although the humidity is around 94%, we are feeling fine! The sun is hidden and the plants are getting a quick drenching. A deep and cleansing drink that will continue across the week. Only an hour ago the sun was beating down and the "grandies” needed more sun block whilst swimming, or they were going to have to have a break from the UV rays. 

The Australian Monsoon is late across the Top End - NT & WA, but we long for it for months on end. Here in Darwin we essentially have two seasons: Hot & dry OR hot & wet. The local indigenous, from the Tiwi Islands, have a calendar of six separate seasonal cycles. What is interesting is that the high tourist season is across the Dry Season. But more and more, the discerning visitor is opting for a different experience of heat, sunshine and the beautiful storms that constantly return to this part of the world during the Wet Season.

Monsoon is coming, yay!

What kind of weather are you experiencing in your neck of the woods? Cold and dry? Blizzards? Equatorial? Heatwaves? 

The break from the oppressive heat is fantastic, spectacular! 😍

But by the end of the wet season, I am sick of controlling and removing moulds that want to raise their ugly heads either inside or on paths and pavers. Water pressure cleaning is constant. No snow shovelling here! Lol...

Please let me know what you are currently experiencing, the weather’s beauty and it’s challenges for hosting.

cheers 

Cathie

[Rachel0]

@Cathie19 We have a light dusting of snow - yes we DO get snow here in Ealing, West London - it is cold, damp, dark and miserable. To add to the misery our central heating boiler has packed up and I got told today that the parts to repair it will take 8 to 10 weeks to arrive.  Needless to say we are now trying to get a new boiler installed asap.  In the meantime we are ratty, fed up and somewhat chilly although we do have some idependent heaters and an emergency immersion heater for the water.  I am just so glad that I had blocked this week out on my calendar and don't have a guest until next Thursday, but February is fully booked.  The long, hot summer of 2018 is now just a distant, lovely memory!

[Emily352]

If you are reading this post it’s plausible that you clicked "Hello MONSOON my old friend ...". Now you are considering whether to stay here or read some other topic, maybe more interesting. You want my advice?

Please, don’t! Because you would never know what kind of weather I am experiencing right now. As shown in the pictures below, if there were, it’s cloudy with a chance of thunder showers here and there’ll be rain tomorrow.

I stay in an apartment in a fourth floor, no elevator, in a building on the Seine, in Paris which is in France which is in Europe which is on Planet Earth which is in the Solar System which is in the Milky Way which is in the Universe.

Now I make Chicken Parmesan, I turn the music down, I look up at the night sky. I listen to the sound of silence. There’s still a chance someone could come through that door..

In this post there is a little madness and also a little sadness. Madness and sadness are part of hosting among other things. Hosting is like pig, the whole pig would be used up until the last bit, so nothing would be wasted. I have no idea what that means, but it sounds good and I think this is a pretty good closing for this thing I wrote.

[Cathie19]

Hey Emily, we must be related or neighbors somehow! I also live on Earth, within the same solar system, along the Milky Way... But just a little further south and to the east, depending on which direction you are facing.

You’ve won me over with your chicken parmesan, and I would probably handle the four flights of stairs, unless they are trying to match Mt Kilimanjaro..... (“Cheaper than a gym membership”!)

Silence can never be overrated. Stars and Silence, a pretty epic combination for sure....

I remember walking along the Siene back in ‘78. (That’s was in the last century for you, LOL  🙂 )

I was 21 and 😍 in love. Literally. I had met my husband 9 days earlier in London and had a weekend visiting a friend in Paris. Baguette, red wine and cheese, never tasted better! 💛

So with a 40th wedding anniversary coming around this year, your place, your weather and story is invoking some lovely memories! We probably passed your apartment...... Thank you.

[Emily352]

You live here too, @Cathie19? On Planet Earth, my friend? It’s a small Universe! We had Coq au Vin and Parmesan Chicken last night, we drank wine and watched the weather report on TV. Sunnny day or rainy day or snowy day. Excellent visibility or good visibility or poor visibility. Light winds becoming less or moderate winds or hurricane force winds. Wild seas or heavy seas or calm seas. The temperatures in Paris will remain below the seasonable average, probably, or maybe not. My kidneys don’t hurt anymore, I think the sun comes out tomorrow.

There are a lot of good reasons to read this post and there are a lot of good reasons not to read it, to get out of here and take a walk even if it’s freezing out there. There is plenty of good reasons why I’m here alone like a dog. And there are many, solid reasons why dogs get pissed off sick and tired of being used for these idiot phrases. There are many and very good reasons to close my post here.

[John1080]

@Cathie19, nice post, and great topic! I love the sound of the pouring rain. We get rain so rarely, that when a good downpour comes, usually after warm air has been forced up over the mountains and forms a thunderstorm, it's an event to be celebrated. 

Currently, we are at -7C (below average) with about 30cm of snow on the ground. However, with sunny, blue skies, dry air of about 30% humidity and very little wind, it's not too bad to get out and do chores or walk with the appropriate layers. 

This is perfect weather to have a raging fire going in the wood stove and kick back with a good book in hand, looking out now and then to view the majesty of the Rocky Mountains.  

[Rachel0]

@John1080 That is just not fair!  To see views like that whenever you want and find pouring rain a novelty - I am definitely living in the wrong place.  I can look out of my top windows, see the London rooftops (think Mary Poppins), a distant view of Wembley stadium and a selection of back gardens.  These views are, of course, at their best when viewed through a damp mist and a bit of drizzle.  

[John1080]

@Rachel0, the city has something going for it too! Especially London! I love our little community here, with our varied opinions, our assistance for one another and sharing our own areas. Let me know when you want to visit Colorado! My husband and I would love to come see your place in London someday! 

[Cathie19]

Hi @Rachel0. I lived in London for a short time in the late 70s. I lived London as a city, but the darkness by 3pm in winte use to get me into hibernation mode, I didn’t want to leave my doona in the mornings to go to work! Sad I know.....

My toes in my boots were numb and my ears throbbed. When it snows, do they still salt the roads/ paths? I remember my boots getting stained from the salt. By the way, I was raised on Mary Poppins and think I’ll have to go see the Emily Blunt remake. With or without the grandkids. LOL.   🙂 

[Rachel0]

@Cathie19 Oh where did you live in London?  Have you been back since?  You would find it changed so much since then, as have I since I arrived to live here properly in 1979.  New buildings appear every day.  

Yes, the roads do get gritted if we have snow, but we are never prepared for "weather" in this country even though we talk about it all the time!  One well remembered occasion in the very hard winter of 2010/2011,  we knew snow was coming so they gritted the roads during the blizzards overnight.  Only the night buses were out and about and they forgot to grit the roads leading into the bus depots/garages.  Following morning the day buses could not get out and the night buses could not get in.  Result = chaos.

Every year in Autumn we get "leaves on the line" resulting in delayed trains, while the Transport bosses scratch their heads and wonder why leaves drop off trees which such alarming regularity every October and November and what can be done about it.  We just sigh, have a moan and get on with it.  

[Cathie19]

Hi @Rachel0. I lived in a hostel in SW1 and worked next to VIctoria station / and also a short stint working in EC1. Met Garry (also an Aussie on working holiday) in Earls Court ( cough cough cough...)  and that was it! Came back to Australia to get married, then we returned soon after to continue our working holiday. We stayed in Highbury/Islington for a short time with a Kiwi couple, then went to Ewell where we worked as a live in bar couple in a large pub. Returning back to Australia after some travels. We went back in 2003, but the old street (literally the back of Buck Palace) had lost most of its pubs and I couldn’t see a hostel in sight: for it was now full of multimillion pound apartments.

[Cathie19]

Gosh @John1080, that’s  a pretty spectacular image you’ve got going there! I’ve only ever seen the Rocky’s from the air passing over at 30,000 feet. It would be spectacular to curl up with a book with that back drop! Though for me being a warm weather softie, I would definitely need that fire place, some hot chocolate a down jacket, beanie, gloves and my Aussie ugg boots, permanently cemented to my feet.

[John1080]

@Cathie19, you'd be surprised how nice it can feel with such low humidity! Would love to host you someday and I would love to visit yours! I lived for a bit in Perth and explored southern SW before going on to check out Alice Springs, Sydney, Melbourne, and Hobart. I never made it up your way and regret it. Would love to someday! 

[Cathie19]

Well @John1080. The old Northern Territory  tourism saying is: never say never!

I think it’s pretty apt for many things in life, so was a very successful campaign. It’s now “Boundless, possible” ! 

You would both be welcome here, but always let me know, as I could be hosting or heading off on my on travels.... 😃 otherwise, I look for housesitters if gone awhile, to avoid kennel fees for Tilly, a “Darwin special”, as they call her mix, at the rescue centre. See her looking belligerent on the chain? She was just about to have a bath and neededto be on the lead or chain, as she is not keen on them. LOL...

[Cathie19]

*own travels.