Although I didn’t get to bed until late last night, I still found my consciousness humming to life at the ungodly hour of 5:30 this morning. Behold the glory of the Type A personality: the harder I try to click my brain back on standby, the more I find myself making trivial plans for things I’d need to accomplish during the day. Yar!
The good thing about waking up early is that you can get your workout out of the way, which is pretty much my first stop after saying hello to the espresso machine. It was while sipping caffeine that I noticed something very odd going taking place outside…no, it wasn’t burning tires in the streets or tear gas being fired into the university…it was something that I haven’t seen in months: rain.
Car rapides have their window flaps rolled down and there are people walking around with umbrellas. This is a Kodak moment!
I suppose I’ll now have to apply for my American Association of Retired Persons membership card, because I don’t know many thirtysomethings who find blog-worthy interest in natural occurrences like la météo. What can I say? I was born old, and as such I’m more than happy to take advantage of any discount associated with this state of mind.
Before I ramble completely off-topic and start muttering about “kids these days”, I would like to defend my rainy street photographs by reminding you non-Senegal dwellers that the rainy season isn’t due in town for months. With the drainage in this city operating at various levels of efficiency, today should almost be Dakar’s equivalent of a snow day….
…except you won’t see me heading outdoors to play in this stuff. Okay maybe you will, but that’s only because there is no other way to get around town! On days like these I become a bit more discriminating of the materiel condition of my chosen taxi…specifically I will favor ones where I don’t have to hold the door shut as we roll down the road.
A quick straw poll of Senegalese people leads me to believe that this rain is here to wash away the old and make way for the new. And we’re not just talking about the thick layer of dust that’s coating this city…
Traffic becomes a nightmare anyway when the rain starts to fall- but today’s four mile trip by cab took an especially long time. I’m so not going to complain about them….but these fancy new blinking contraptions here are piling on extra minutes to my commute. I actually become annoyed when my taximan respects the red light and comes to a stop. Yet further evidence that I’ve been here a long time.
I normally love precipitation, but this stuff is messing with the quality of my drive-by photography.
I don’t have any comment on the rain metaphor and whether Mother Nature is tidying Senegal up before next week’s big inauguration, but I will say that this rain has done a splendid job of giving us back our beautiful sky. At last the sunsets will return to their rightful splendor…
…and I’ll enjoy it while I can. Everybody knows that in a few months, this is what our view is going comprise. I’ve got my wellies ready.