Living on a plain..

...is it better or worse than living in the mountains?

You'd think the rain would have deposited itself back there (points north) over the alps, but no. This is the second HUGE downpour/thunderstorm we've had in a week. As opposed to rain in England, this rain is a relief. It drastically reduces the humididty and is usually followed by gusty winds for a few days which does the same and keeps the summer temps lower.

It has ruined my plan for another bike ride in the Parco del Ticino, but I'm quite enjoying sitting here, listening to the patter of the rain fighting with Nirvana to reach my ears first. The rain is currently winning.

It's getting heavier. And I just saw my first lightning flash to accompany the thunder (it's about 4 miles away now...). But last Friday's storm was immense. There was HAIL in JULY! Let me show you...

HOLY SHIT! It's right over head now... I love that amazing ripping sound you hear when thunder is directly above you. It's as if the sky is splitting apart, right over your head.

That's not rain you're seeing. It's hail, the size of half an ice cube

A nice illustration of them bouncing off the roof. One attacked me after bouncing off the balcony rail. It hurt.

It was so much fun to be out in. I felt like a child, excited by the weather. It spoke to something deep and primordial inside me.

The size of those buggers. Though they had melted some because of the heat. (Please excuse my grimy feet, I'd been running around on the wet balcony in my excitement, but I left them in for reference)

And in the amount of time it's taken for me to upload these pictures and write the captions the storm has headed off to the east, it's some miles away now. It's so cloudy I can't see the lightning unless I look for it and the rain is but a gentle pitter patter in the background.

I love this crazy weather. But not enough for it to do this constantly ;)

ps, it's now a chilly 19 Degrees outside. The first time I've seen it below 20 in the day time since the middle of May!