It felt a bit weird putting my rain jacket on as I headed off for my morning ride today.
We’re in the middle of summer but it was a cool start to the day and the rain was falling steadily. My legs felt a bit sluggish and the wet conditions slowed things down even more. Once I got to work it was straight into the shower and then into some dry clothes. I’ll have to set up my drying rack in the cleaning store room if I want to change into dry cycling gear at the end of the day.
After the driest year on record here in Perth I’m more than happy for 2007 to start off with a few rainy days but it still seems unusual. The first two days of the year were magnificent Perth summer days. Today and tomorrow will be the exception with hot conditions returning in the next few days.
The rain will save me some time wandering around the yard with a sprinkler this afternoon. It’s our sprinkler day at home today (water restrictions mean that we have two rostered sprinkler days each week) but I think I can give it a miss this time around. I must say that I was surprised by the amount of sprinklers I saw pumping water onto already soaked lawns as I made my way through the suburbs this morning. I know that a lot of watering systems are on automatic settings but surely it can’t be too hard to switch the system off for a day or so when rain is forecast. Water is an incredibly precious resource here in Western Australia. We can’t afford to waste it like that.
Most parts of Australia have been caught in a terrible drought and I understand that water restrictions on the east coast are far more severe than here.
Seems there’s never been a better time to pray for rain.
Posted by Rodney Olsen
Click here for regular email updates from this blog.
Technorati Tags: Rain – Cycling – Perth
Do you think some of your friends would enjoy reading Slightly soggy? Please use the buttons below to share the post. Thanks.
What I wouldn’t give to me in the middle of summer right now. It’s winter here, but at least we’ve only gotten snow once where I’ve had to shovel. It’s really cold though.
My sprinkler has a thing on it that measures the rain, if it’s rained more than a certain amount the sprinklers won’t even turn on if I wanted them to.
(love your answer to the QOTD by the way, and thanks for the Christmas email)
we’re not even allowed to water our lawns here! we’re allowed to water gardens with a trigger nozzle or drip system 2 days a week though durning the evening or early morning. we need some of that rain out here
We got a bit of rain here overnight 1-2 inches fell in most places. Of course, that’s totally inconsequential compared to the amount that a lot of places need. Last time I checked, Brisbane’s water supply was down to 24%.
Where I am we have had over 100 mm of rain fall over the past day or so. A huge storm and low pressure system is passing through. I think we may get the amount of rain we had last year within a few days this year!