But you know, I see the rain here. I actually got half drowned in the torrential rain today. The worst of it was, I got stuck in a self service restaurant. I was passng when it thundered and lighting and fell from the heavens. So, I ate lovely bar B Q 'frango', chicken lunch. Then I had to stay there much longer than usual, to step outside would be to drown. What bad luck is that, the lady who owns it, very nice to me always, said tranquillo, in other words relax. I had to stay. So, what did I do, I read my book/iPad and ate 'torte d lemone', lemon meringue pie and coffee. Sitting in a warm room, filled with other souls all sheltering from the storm. I have never seen it so crowded. What bad luck for me ha ha.
The rain is heavy, heavy, heavy. It comes down in buckets full, like a hose, it rains cats and dogs. Honestly, much heavier than a power shower. All of those descriptions apply. It's so heavy it's impossible to see through it. The water over runs the gutters, bounces off the cars, setting off their alarms, even the street dogs, ever hopeful for titbits from the restaurant, huddle, bedraggled under any cover they can find. It's not a good day for them! But as I watch, it rushes down the streets like a river, or builds small lakes on every surface, bouncing up off the pavements. I can't help but wonder why, instead of it shooting out of disconnected gutters like a gushing waterfall, why is it not being captured...stored. In one fairly short rain storm, the streets and gutters and every surface immediately had a problem. I could have filled half a five thousand gallon tank, right there. In the space of just over an hour, on that one street corner.
I lived in New Zealand for quite a few years, and in Austria before that. They catch the rainfall there. Not just in town resoviours but in household storage tanks, belonging to each house. I believe there is a new law now in NZ that says every new house must have a water storage tank. But there are few houses without one anyway. They were once made of concrete, now they are mostly plastic and are often buried deep in the ground. So as not to spoil the look of the garden.
Underground water tank. NZ
Above ground Water tanks..NZ.
Where I lived, we had three, large five thousand litre tanks, and one of two and half thousands litres. All filled up over a short period of a few rainy weeks in the winter. Plus being topped up at other times when we had a sudden summer shower. If you ran out of water, you could call a mobile water company for a refill, costing around two hundred dollars. The sediment naturally sinks to the bottom of the tank. The hose, or tap is placed above this level, making the water perfectly good. It was good drinking water, the best for washing clothes and hair too. It worked best in New Zealand because of the steadier, more reliable rainfall.
Yet here in Brasil, the rainfall is phenomenal. If they organised their guttering correctly. So that it actually flows somewhere positive, instead of just shooting out at an angle when it rained. Running away down the streets making everyone's feet wet. Then they would have no problems with their water supply at all. You wouldn't hear of towns running out of water before the wet season is actually over. Hopefully, São Paulo has had the same rainfall, and caught some, at least.
But of course, that's just me, thinking I see the answer. After all, they don't even catch the water as successfully in England, the UK. I lived for many years in a house with no water supply. When instead of a small tank outside the back door, where you could scoop a bowl of water from. They could have had a large one, with a few pipes and we could have lived in comfort. Clever old New Zealand I say! Here in Brasil, I am only layman in a strange country. Perhaps there is a very good reason no one cares if most of the good rainwater runs away. Perhaps it's acid rain....no, really it's not is it. It's inefficiency, or the manyana principle. Either way it's a waste f mana from heaven, literally. Come on Brasil, stop wasting such free resources. Someone must care about this wonderful country. Basic infrastructure lack again I suppose. Ahhhh well, four days later, it's still hosing down, not one minutes stop so far.
The road to the Balsa is super flooded. It's a lake in places, in others a river. Motor bikes must drive on the pavements, pedestrians stand little chance of either wet feet or being swamped by the puddles? (Lakes) as the buses etc. go through. Small cars are of course, conking out. Bless the 4x4 s, at least you can head through it and not worry. Also, at least it's not cold as England would be. I was soaked by the time I gt home yesterday...and no harm. I hear the thunder storms have reached New Zealand. Why does the world seem so small today?
Ok folks...love you all. Still smiling in Brasil!
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