I'm writing this in the middle of a terrific thunderstorm. Lightning, thunder, rain - it's all happening. About time really, as it's been threatening for quite a while, and has happened already in different parts of the country. It's been sticky hot today and earlier I had that particular kind of headache I sometimes get before storms.
Of course it never really lasts very long here, but we had great storms in Rome when I was in seminary there. A few weeks after we got out there each September, the hot summer would collapse into a mild autumn in a few days of downpours in October maybe, where the thunder and lightning might go on for an hour.
Another place where I experienced a completely different kind of downpour was the island of Dominica in the Caribbean, where I spent a week half way through my canon law studies in Canada in the 80s. I was staying in the cathedral clergy house where there was a courtyard with luscious trees. I was warned not to walk there in the evening as most days the rain would suddenly come and the breadfruit (right) would drop off the trees. And if one of those landed on your head you would certainly know it.
Dominica is a brilliant place. I also visited Antigua and Barbados, but this was different. No tourists because no white beaches, no big resorts, no cruiseliners (there are a few of those now). I was one of very few white people, and the bishop was the last European bishop in the Caribbean. I think I'll share a bit more about Dominica next time...
ps This is not the Dominican Republic, a completely different place, but confusingly also in the Caribbean!
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