Travels with my Stethoscope .

Friday 8th March

The thunderstorm to end all thunderstorms happened last night. The electric crackles of lightning started about midnight, with the distant rolls of thunder following minutes later - by the morning I was woken by an enormous clap of thunder that sounded as if it was somewhere between the ceiling of my room, and my head. The rain that followed was a typical tropical downpour, sheets of warm, hard rain, almost so dense you could not see past it. Just a short run to the bar for breakfast left me soaked to the skin . It continued to rain all day, tailing off by the evening - if my weather forecast is to be believed it will be sunny tomorrow, but after that it is not looking so good. My tolerance levels with continuous rain when it is not expected "for another month" are reasonably low, after 10 days of downpour in the Philippines last year " which hadn't happened for ten years". I'm beginning to wonder if there is some sort of weather vendetta being waged against me by an evil mastermind buried in a secret James Bond style hideout...Bit dramatic maybe, but when everything to do is outside, it is all a bit dramatic . When the rain stopped, however, I took a wander along the beach, which was completely transformed. It was deserted, except for local children playing in the wet sand, and fishermen dragging their nets in. There was an abundance of butterflies, of all colours, and bright yellow birds that I have never seen before. All the sound was somehow muted, as if it had snowed - the sounds somehow gentler - even the sea seemed quieter .
Here's hoping the evil weather genius has been foiled by Mr Bond .