Weird summer day

Today was one of those days that was an absolutely brilliant early summer day—warm, sunny, blue skies with puffy clouds. Just lovely. But then it changed and it got weird. And now, it’s a weird summer night.

I went to Pukekohe today to do the grocery shopping and some other stops, and when I left the house it was a brilliant day. I knew that thunderstorms were predicted for this afternoon, and I wanted to get back home before then.

In Pukekohe, my first stop was the chemist that sells the tart cherry pills I take to prevent gout attacks (the only place in the area where I can get them; it seems that the only alternative is to order online). I refused a bag—what’s the point of being virtuous if one doesn’t signal their virtue?—even though they use paper, not plastic. I knew I had resusable bags in my car, which actually means my virtue was moderated by the fact I forgot to bring a bag in with me.

But my next stop was The Warehouse, where I brought in my reusable bag. Virtue level restored.

I next went to Countdown, which stopped using plastic bags a couple months ago, BUT I needed some onions, and instead of getting ones in a pre-packed plastic bag, I used one of the mesh produce bags I bought to put them in. As I did, a lady near me was putting her selections into a plastic bag. My virtue score rose dramatically (not the least because I bought the non-meat meat again and some of the non-chicken chicken we want to try, but that’s virtue of a different sort altogether).

By the time I was checking out, the clouds were gathering together, darkening the sky. But the rain held off all the way home, and even until after I got home, unpacked everything, headed out for Friday takeaways for dinner and got back home again.

Then the weather hit.

We had lightening and thunder and heavy rain, but, at first, the gutters didn’t overflow; apparently when I cleaned them out the other day I did a good job. Bt later on the rain got heavier still and the gutters overflowed where the bottle-brush like stuff is in the gutter. Maybe I should move it.

What was especially weird was that the lightening and thunder kept going. And going. And going. I used to say that thunderstorms were unusual in Auckland, but they’ve become much more common in recent years. But this is the fist time we’ve had one that just kept going for an hour or so. And more thunder sounded a couple times throughout the evening. That’s weird, too.

Still, I avoided getting caught in the storms (Leo did a little bit), we never lost power, and the cleaned-out gutters performed as they were supposed to. And, the first part of the day was warm, sunny, and summery. All up, I’d say it was an awesome day—a little weird, maybe, but still really great.

I’ll take it.