Aren't we humans fickle?

 

 I  never  thought   I’d  hear  a  four-letter word used in so many different ways or so often as in the past week or so. That word is R-A-I-N.

Farmers  are crying out for it and when they get 10 or 15mls of scattered showers they then shout defiantly ‘ too little, too late’. But who they are shouting  to or pleading with is unsure  as only time and the inevitable change of seasons  will give them  the moisture  they so badly require which could then well be ‘too much,  too late.’ From my own farming  experience, after a dry spell , rain is never too late. I therefore  had to grin when, with some ominous-looking clouds overhead, I heard someone in the street quoting the old rhyme ‘rain, rain, go away, come again another day.’
 
Despite the ever-diminishing Adam’s ale languishing at the bottom  of your tank,  if your daughter is getting married  in a beach ceremony this weekend, you’re not really prepared to accept rain under any pretext. Likewise  fruit growers and winemakers are justifiable pleased with the long dry spell which, though it can have a bearing on fruit size, generally delivers a lovely sweet ripe fruit of superior taste and quality which should carry through  to the end product. But wait, there’s more. By Easter we are well into  national  rugby competitions but only  the  very brave (or  well paid)  would be prepared  to put their bodies on the line on such hard and unforgiving  ground.  After Easter, traditionally the last long weekend of summer, we have the Art Trail and Walking Weekend plus outdoor markets so we surely don’t want it to rain then. This is closely followed by the end of school term 1 and a fortnight’s holiday which, as temperatures are still very pleasant, is always more enjoyable without the threat of rain.
     Aren’t we humans fickle?
 
The fact is, every day is a day closer to the onset of winter. Last Wednesday, the 20th, was officially the  Equinox  or  Winter  Solstice, when the sun can be observed to be directly above the equator. From then on days shorten  and we swap our summer with the northern winter to put up with lashings  of rain  we don’t really want or need, flooded drains and sections, fallen trees and road slippages. This is when we build a deep appreciation  of our volunteer firemen  and St John on whom we call for help and who are always there to oblige in the worst possible situations  saving property, people and pets.

This is simply a reminder to do our best in  our  own  situation  and  accept  that  we are simply little fish within the big pool of life relying on many other elements  to get where we want to go, while also trying to second-guess  things  that  are  way beyond our control.
    Ain’t life great.
 
Cheers, Rob and the team.