A novel experience

They say that if you don't like the weather in Melbourne wait 5 minutes; it'll change. Yeah, I know they say that of many cities around the world but Melbourne's the one I grew up in so naturally I think in Melbourne terms.

Wednesdays weather in Phoenix could almost have been an early Melbourne Summer day. Cool and wet at the start, warm and windy in the middle, wet and warm and windy toward the end and cold at the end.

It was quite the nostalgic moment to be driving to the office that morning through driving rain. I heard a sound I'd almost forgotten; the sound of rain pelting the windscreen.

By midday it was warm and sticky and most of the cloud cover had gone. Obviously still cold high overhead; the jet contrails were as ubiquitous as ever. I'd never seen as many contrails as I see here. At first I thought they were evidence of US military flyovers; given that they're not that common in the Melbourne sky. Ascribing them to the US military does however, seem like paranoia these days. They're quite obviously commuter flights. Just a lot of them. Well, Phoenix Sky HarboUr is apparently the fifth busiest airport in the US so that kinda makes sense.

Driving home just on sunset (about 7 PM) it was my pleasure to once again hear the sound of rain pelting the windscreen. Indeed, given that I planned to stop off at the Mesquite branch of the Phoenix Public Library to pick up a CD, I was a trifle apprehensive. When in Melbourne one dresses for rain; in Phoenix one does not. Fortunately, the rain had all but stopped by the time I hit Cholla and was completely gone when I reached Cactus.

I must be getting acclimated; for the first six months I lived here I really missed the rain and, on the very few occasions we had any, I'd go outside and all but dance in it.

It won't be long until we're seeing temperatures well over the 38 C mark every day and, come late June, I'll be checking the temperature gauge on late night TV and marvelling that we've got down as low as 38 C at midnight!

The CD was Alexander Nemtin's realisation of Alexander Scriabin's Mysterium. Complex and strange harmonies; very very late Post Romantic music dating from around 1913. Good stuff!