When the rain comes, they run and hide their heads

Considering that people who've lived in Berlin had warned me that winters here tend to be cold, rainy and dismal, we've been having pretty good weather here. That is, up until last Thursday, when we woke up to warnings on the radio of a dire rain and wind storm coming our way - "Kyrill," they called it; I don't think I've ever been in a storm that had a name before. When I got to school at a little before eight that morning, all the teachers were talking about it, and the secretary was getting calls from parents asking whether the school was going to be open. The administration eventually decided to send the kids home after the fourth period, an announcement that was greeted with some enthusiasm on the part of the students.

Becuase I'm only there for the first two periods on Thursday morning anyway, I ducked out at my usual time and decided that this would be a good day to replace my umbrella, which had given up the ghost sometime last October. I found a reasonably priced version that fits into my purse and ran a few more errands before heading back to hole up in the apartment. The rain didn't actually start until about 5 o'clock, and even though it was pretty blowsy when I fell asleep some hours later, I still felt like it was a bit of an anticlimax - no worse than some of the thunderstorms I've seen at home.

I had some reason to question my judgement in storms when I woke up on Friday and heard, as I was brushing my teeth, that the winds had knocked down a girder on the band-new main train station, which only opened last May. Luckily, no one was hurt, and they were able to repair the station and make it ready for transport again later that same day, but it was quite unsettling nevertheless. And now there are stories saying that the planners knew that the building might not stand up to heavy weather, but were under so much pressure to get the station finished for the World Cup that they went ahead anyway. So, bit of a scandal brewing there.

The rest of the weekend has continued to be rainy, windy and just as dismal as promised, so I've spent more time than usual indoors. When I have gone out, though, I've managed to forget my umbrella every time. You'd think that one episode of being rained on would cure this particular kind of forgetfulness. Let me assure you that this is not so.