Halloween
About midnight on the 30th of October it started to rain.. And it rained and it rained.
I was cooking lunch for 24 Vietnamese at work so I had a lot to carry on the old bicycle. Just as I left the house it stopped! I cycled through street running with water and little traffic - everyone was still hiding. I got to the office, unloaded my bike and.... it started raining again.
That was the pattern for the day. Rain RAIN RAIN!!! then stop, then start again. I ventured out to get the last items for lunch and avoided the lake which always forms at the junction of Nguyen Du and Ba Trieu. Pleased with myself I got onto Quang Trung only to find an ocean complete with waves washing up to my thighs.
A neuveau riche Vietnamese in his Toyota Camry had stopped - going too slow and using as low revs as possible his exaughst had flooded. He opened the car door - big mistake.
Buffetted by the waves I got to the shops and back and the day continued.
6pm and I'm about to leave when the cleaner calls me to another flood in the offices. We mop up and make temporary repairs then I'm on my way home - only knee deep on the bike this time. 7.30pm and the rain gets heavier - is that possible? A colleague texts me to say she is still in a taxi trying to get home having left Saigon 8 hours before (normally a 3 hour journey). And it has now been raining with short breaks for 20 hours.
The ghosts are having a great time this Halloween, pity about all the parties that have been cancelled tonight.
I was cooking lunch for 24 Vietnamese at work so I had a lot to carry on the old bicycle. Just as I left the house it stopped! I cycled through street running with water and little traffic - everyone was still hiding. I got to the office, unloaded my bike and.... it started raining again.
That was the pattern for the day. Rain RAIN RAIN!!! then stop, then start again. I ventured out to get the last items for lunch and avoided the lake which always forms at the junction of Nguyen Du and Ba Trieu. Pleased with myself I got onto Quang Trung only to find an ocean complete with waves washing up to my thighs.
A neuveau riche Vietnamese in his Toyota Camry had stopped - going too slow and using as low revs as possible his exaughst had flooded. He opened the car door - big mistake.
Buffetted by the waves I got to the shops and back and the day continued.
6pm and I'm about to leave when the cleaner calls me to another flood in the offices. We mop up and make temporary repairs then I'm on my way home - only knee deep on the bike this time. 7.30pm and the rain gets heavier - is that possible? A colleague texts me to say she is still in a taxi trying to get home having left Saigon 8 hours before (normally a 3 hour journey). And it has now been raining with short breaks for 20 hours.
The ghosts are having a great time this Halloween, pity about all the parties that have been cancelled tonight.
posted by Marvin.. at Friday, October 31, 2008
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