A couple of days ago the weather forecast looked so spectacular I made early plans to get out and explore something. I anyways needed to do grocery shopping.
Hint: “Grocery shopping” is a secret phrase that means “Buying beer and scotch.”
Anyhoo, a quick look outside revealed the opposite of the forecast. “I’ll wait a while” I thought. “It’ll clear. I can go around lunchtime instead.”
Hmm, not a chance. The forecast couldn’t have been more wrong if it had tried. The whole day was low dark cloud with periods of heavy rain. The forecast for yesterday predicted cr*p. And it wasn’t wrong. Things were getting serious because I was dangerously low on “groceries.”
Today didn’t begin any better. From very early until about 9am there was heavy rain. Okay, I know that getting wet is not a criminal offense, aside from which, I’m not made of sugar. But with the way it rains here, you can get very wet, very quickly, which means you can get very cold. Only the really large supermarkets (i.e. nowhere near here) have any kind of covered parking, so generally I try to avoid shopping if there is persistent heavy rain. Dodging a few showers is no problem.
And then I read in the local press that there is a weather warning in effect for Surat Thani and Nakhon Si Thammarat. Great. I’m slap bang in the middle. Apparently there is a storm heading from Vietnam into the Bay of Bangkok, and I can expect heavy rain for the next few days along with strong winds and waves of four meters. Heck, I doubt the end of my driveway is more than four meters above sea level.
The idea of several days without groceries spurred me into action. I got lucky. For the two hours I was out, it didn’t rain, and as soon as I arrived home it did. And it still is – several hours later. I’m thinking that for once the forecast was right. Things could get interesting!
The rain is heavy. The sea is dark and angry looking, and for sure the waves are building. If this really does last several days I’ll get cabin fever.
But there is an upside. I now have “groceries.” It’s cool. I don’t need to spend money on aircon. Electricity I find is quite expensive here. I have my office door open, and I can listen to the waves crashing on the beach. If I find my feet getting wet, I’ll know they are higher than predicted.
Stay tuned.
