it is a little ironic that unruly typhoons can be so meticulously tracked. i never have to worry about a typhoon springing up, i have my smart and up to date sister pam and knobody to tell me about meterological happenings soon to occur in hong kong.

but flash rain.

today was another grey day in hong kong. i woke up, opened one eyeball and nodded at the sky, and decided it was wet enough not to go for a walk. we all got ready and the youngest three and i headed out to ppa. it started to rain on the way there and did not stop. thank goodness the ppa is covered! we had just finished snack and were tidying away when the instructor came up to us and said, "it is rain storm red warning."

red storm rain warning means if you have kindergarten age children you must go pick them up immediately. i pushed goldfish into each child’s clammy paws and we headed for the door, where de was waiting to drive us to the kindergarten. it was raining all right, but if it was raining like this in north america, you would just say, "wow that’s a rain. yikes that’s really coming down." what makes a rain "RED?" closes kindergartens?

the colour of the sky has a lot to do with it in my prediction. dusky isn’t the right word, deep dark grey might be more accurate to describe the low skies and swirling wispy clouds that gathered around the trees.

hong kong is a hilly place. during a rainstorm, unless you are standing on the top of a mountain, if you are outside, you are likely to have water splashing against your ankles, arms and person in some way or another. you can be on a straight street, but the water runs down the hills and finds you. the roads were getting treacherous. street lights were on.

finally, finally we got to the kindergarten. de offered to get sebastian, and i said, "Forget it." i jumped out of the car and sprinted for the entrance to the kindy. of course i lost one of my flip flops in the process and had to run back and collect it.

i burst into the kindergarten and the principal was on the phone, which is unusual, but she smiled and said, "just go on up and collect sebastian." i went into the classroom where and sebastian saw me, interrupted reading time and ran over to me, mummy you are so wet.

i know kitten, and so will you be!

we walked downstairs and i explained to sebastian, "let’s take off your shirt and socks and shoes. it is very wet and i don’t want you shivering in a wet shirt. let’s see if your knapsack can keep your shoes dry." we agreed that was a fun thing to do. i also said that i would go barefoot too, and stuffed my flip flops into his knapsack.

ready as we would get for the elements, i picked him up and walked outside.

the rain was really pelting down. but instead of dashing for the car, sebastian and i looked around. i pointed to water rushing down a set of concrete steps and how a car door/window was helping to turn the water 90 degrees so it could continue down the hill. we looked at overflowing drains and talked about how leaves and sticks and rubbish can stop drains from working well. i hope he remembers these sights.

ninety minutes later, dressed in his incredibles outfit, sebastian and adam were running around outside in the mist. there was no rain, and no visibility. they felt like superheroes and thankfully were dressed for the part.