Scottish Summertime

We took a very rare visit to the homeland this summer.  Leaving just as the monsoon broke over Mumbai and arriving in Scotland on a day so hot and still that we were able to sit comfortably in pavement cafes and marvel at the weather.

It wasn't to last, every day since has been cold, or wet, and more often cold and wet. However, it does make for a lot of fresh looking greenery.

The ducks like it.

But really, summer?

3:30 pm, June, Princes Street, Edinburgh

It's been great catching up with people we haven't seen for years and stuffing ourselves with food we can't get in India but I'm looking forward to getting back to warm rain and not having to dress in multiple layers to cope with the weather.

Gothic corners

The weather is changing now but,we've had three weeks or more of too hot weather.  Relentlessly still, humid and sunny.  Fantastic for sitting in a cool cafe with an equally cool drink but exhausting for anything else.

Wandering around Mumbai with my camera, a target for every tout and taxi driver in the city, I found myself seeking out leafy and shaded streets and enjoying the gothic side of the city.

Like all Colonial architecture there is an incongruity to it that can make it seem out of place yet, in the use of local materials and some adaptation of ornamentation it leans towards local traditions too.  At least that how it seems to me.  Here are some pictures of what I've been looking at:

Rajbai Clock Tower, the Mumbai cousin of Big Ben

 Gated gardens with lovely wrought iron work. 

 Guarding the Garden

 More elaborate architecture in Fort with a "raven" for added effect

In the last week the breezes have started blowing, the clouds billowing and as I wrote this one of our first sprinkles of rain fell.  Things are cooling down just as work winds down for the summer and my thoughts are on monsoon travels.

Seasonal changes

It's getting hotter, the cool days are gone for another year and it's getting more humid. The skies are becoming greyer and the nights hotter. I've seen a few banks of clouds rolling in from time to time but none as spectacular as these seen at sunrise two weeks ago:

Monsoon is still a good way off but this looked as though it was going to be a storm of epic proportions. It was just a freak of the light and conditions and in a few moments it had gone and the skies were clear. Still, it was pretty dramatic looking.

Rain falls in Saigon

On Friday I stopped work for two weeks. On Friday the rain started. Huge dark clouds and the odd clap of thunder followed by a short but heavy downpour. It rained on Saturday too for longer and more dramatically but by then we were safely tucked away in a restaurant having lunch and could indulge in one of the great pleasures of wet season - having one more drink while you wait for the rain to ease off.

It seems that nearly everyone with a blog in Vietnam's been going on about the oppresively hot weather, I'm no exception and I welcome the rain along with everyone else, at least for the time being.

I'm absolutely gutted that I didn't have my camera with me to capture the two boys in matching polka dot pink ponchos though. Still that's another joy of the wet season to look forward to.

Waiting for the Saigon rains

It's hot, sticky, sweaty, tiring hot. The rains haven't come yet but they're on their way and meanwhile I'm prone to the odd, very ladylike, trickle of perspiration. Sitting is hotter than moving when the air is so still but if the breezes start in the evening it's pure joy to be up on the roof with a cool glass of wine. The plants are dusty and even the tree frogs are feeling the heat.

Of course, once the rains start I'll be back to moaning about how little I suit a rain poncho.

Strange Rains

The wet season should have stopped by now but it's making a return visit. We've had rain midafternoon almost every day since Christmas. On the upside it cools things down a bit and usually doesn't last long.