Afternoon Thunderstorms!

One of the peculiarities of the hot dry weather is the lightning. Most days in the mid afternoon, black clouds gather, fork lightning sparks across the sky, and thunder cracks overhead. It all happens in an instant and then it is over as quickly as it appeared.

As equally surprising is the reaction of the locals. There is a puzzling mix of calm and panic when lightning appears. 'Time to head back to the shore, you dont want to be in the water when that lightning strikes.' or 'you may want to move off the field and back into your car, just till it passes'.

Having grown up on a steady diet of american horror movies. I use my knowledge gleaned from 'Poltergeist' to time the intervals between the lightning bolts and the thunder, to determine how far away the storm is and if it is moving towards me. I have my doubts about if this really works, but it does give me a quick thrill.

Sometimes the thunder and lightning is accompanied by a downpour of rain. It can be ferocious! Inevitably I have left the windows down on the car, and have to make a mercy dash to close them. I dont mind, its hot and the big thick drops are refreshingly cool. While I wait out the rain I have a few precious moments of solitude.

My first thought is, I wonder if I can get away with not watering the lawn tonight?

The sky blackens as the storm approaches.