RAIN, RAIN. . .

Usually associated with Vancouver's tempermental rainforest climate, this wet phenomen is now playing in a city near me- Pretoria to be exact. I've never contemplated this as much as I have the past week. It's March next week which means- Southern hemispherically speaking- summer is coming to an end. February is possibly the wettest month in the Gauteng province and on the night that I returned from my wet camping trip, it started to pour. Can't get enough of that sugar rain. . .

With only a flimsy umbrella in head and two sturdy legs, I walked home from work as always. The rain fell like a garden hose switched on high that Tuesday. Ankle high puddles lasting an entire block made me laugh and I finally gave up tip-toeing frog-legged from side to side. I had no choice but to submerge my half-suede shoes in water for the fifteen-minute walk. I had never been so soaked walking from place to place in an urban surrounding before.

Not only does rain bring about fresh blossoms and green stuff, it also seduces flying termites into unsuspecting victim's homes. After the rain, these "ants" with wings flock in, flapping about. They just plant themselves on a flat surface and rub their backs enthusiastically to get rid of those spidery wings. Then they try to burrow a hole in the ground to make nests and mate.

This doesn't work so well on kitchen counters, stoves, or sink drains, but boy do they try. My friend who stayed in Namibia for a year told me that he lived in a room that was swarming with these puppies! I was sitting in my room once and heard a faint rustle at my door. Turning around, I saw two flying termites squeeze themselves into my room from under the door. I heard that they taste like peanuts, deep-fried, or freshly picked. I'd rather get protein from canned tuna. However, ant colonies seem to like the taste of them even though flying peanuts are probably 20 times their size.

Hmm. . .I'm getting hungry just talking about food- er, I mean termites. . .