water in the form of droplets

Woo! Blog makeover. Feelin' fresh.

I feel slightly slack for today's happy thought because it makes so many people's days unhappy. But there's something about

Rain

that I find soothing and relaxing (unless I'm drenched in it, and sometimes even then). Take the scene on the right for example, which I snapped the other day. It's hardly idyllic, because it's all rainy and grey and such, but it's serene. And I respect that in an inner-city park next to Broadway.

You know how different it is to walk around an empty university or school after nightfall, when it's all lit up differently to how you're used to and when nobody is about to spoil the silence? Rain does that to the entire world. It balances out the usual busyness with an enforced and temporary calm. And when it leaves, the world looks and smells fresh. I really enjoy that process, whether I'm in it or watching it from a cosy glass-shielded vantage point. In my younger, more emotionally frought days I noticed that rainy days calmed me down, as though the world's empathy with my depression was a balm. I still feel that, but I also just enjoy rainy days for their beauty.

While I'm talking about water from the heavens, I'd like to mention fog as well. I grew up in a town renowned for its fogginess, and the experience left me with a healthy appreciation for having one's head (and body too, for that matter) in a cloud while one's feet are still planted firmly on the ground. The reason I like it, in spite of its obvious detractors and dangers, is that it makes the world look both amazing and surreal.

If, by some chance, I've put you in the mood for a rainy day and yet such a day is not forthcoming (unlikely to be a problem in Sydney for a while), try going to http://www.rainymood.com/.