What a Half an Hour

Just thought I'd make you all feel a little better with a tale of my last 30 minutes....

I left the gym on my bike around 1.30pm in wonderful sunshine and gently cycled alongside the Rhine on my way home without a care in the world. As I approached the industrial area just before Ikea I could tell a "storm was a brewing". The wind was getting up, the clouds were getting darker and the first flashes of lightning appeared on the German side of the river. I only had 3km to go but I was hitting every red light and it didn't look good for my chances of arriving home dry.

With around 1k to go the first drops of rain appeared, they were those big, heavy, storm induced rain drops and I thought I'd quickly put on my rain jacket - oh what a beautiful waste of time that was. Within seconds the heavens descended, it was raining stair rods, cats & dogs - all in one go. The lightning was very close and the road had turned into a river. Before I reached the Augst/Kaiuseraugst boundary my shorts and shoes were already drenched. In fact as I got off my bike it is doubtful if I could have been any wetter if I had just jumped in the Rhine.

Then the hail came and it hurt, hurt like hell and made so much noise as I finally put my bike away and then swam to the front door of the apartment. I though I'd take a photo/video of the deluge with my phone but that had given up the ghost (it was in my now soaked trouser pocket - it now lies in bits trying to dry out). Then as I climbed the stairs I realised I had left the windows a little open, not much but we've seen before how little it takes when a storm hits. Sure enough as I entered the flat the paperwork on the table and recipe books looked a little sodden and the floor was one big puddle. Upstairs I (well and truly after the horse had bolted) closed the windows and went to do the same in the bathroom. Luckily for me the floor was sodden here too and I went "arse over tit" (I'll explain that one day) and cracked my elbow, arse and head on the floor....

Having dried off and cleaned up I'm going to have a cup of tea now and relax!