Inside-out umbrellas

(Duplicated at my other blog.)

It's 3pm. On TV they are showing reporters in various parts of Japan dressed up in wet weather gear yelling into mikes dramatically and having their words blown away. You don't need to understand Japanese to know what they're saying. "It's very windy! The wind is very strong! It's raining a lot!" more or less covers it, and we can see that already.

They have also shown several people having their umbrellas blown inside out. I think they have an archive of material like this that they bring out every time there is a typhoon. The inside out umbrella thing is particularly ubiquitous. Every time you switch on the TV you see yet another hapless person struggling with an inside out umbrella. Or perhaps it's the same one.

Here the wind is getting up and the branches of the too-big tree outside the house are being blown about and brushing against the wall. No rain yet, but that is not expected until around 6, along with a lot more wind. I'm tossing up whether or not to pay a visit to the supermarket. If I toss up for too much longer, I might be the one being tossed up when I do finally make up my mind. Perhaps I'd better go now. No backward flying birds yet, but they're struggling.

My climbing rose has decided to unseasonably produce one, perfect rose. I don't suppose it will remain perfect for long.

We've been told to expect 400 mm of rain. That's a lot of rain.

I'd better get going.