No Worries!

Super saturated sogginess. I'm sure I told many of you that January/February is the wet season here. But I completely forgot it. I forgot it when I packed and I forget it every time I leave our apartment. I keep feeling surprised when it starts raining. Oh, excuse me, did I say rain? I am a Seattleite for crying out loud - I know rain. This is not rain. This is like having a swimming pool emptied on your head. There is no escape. Remember when I mentioned getting caught in that exciting tropical deluge when we first arrived? I thought it was so fun! So exciting! So unexpected! Yippee! Well, let me tell you, it's hard to know what to wear in this fun and exciting rain so that you don't look like you peed your pants. Seriously, by the time I close my umbrella and toss it (with out even shaking it out first, there's no time for that dam it) into the car and jump into the drivers seat (or passenger seat if I have forgotten which side the steering wheel is on) I am soaking wet. We all should just be naked. It's too hot for boots and rain jackets so everyone is near to naked anyway, then with soaking wet clothes on....well, see what I mean. We all just might as well be naked.

I couldn't put it off any longer. I finally did the big stock the pantry shopping trip. Most of the grocery stores here are in malls. Picture Safeway or Met Market in Bellevue Square. Imagine trying to run in to Bell Square and grab a gallon of milk. What level should you park on? Imagine me with a shopping cart (trolley) of food badly needing refridgeration having to ride the travelator (an escalator that is a ramp instead of stairs) through five levels of every kind of shopping distraction. Literally everything can be found in the friendly neighborhood mall. We entered on the cinema level and discovered that is where the library is too. I was kind of surprised, but in a way it makes sense. You should read the book before you see the movie. So there you are in Bell Square, with your trolley, riding up and down the travelators. I guesse I'll get used to it, but so far not so much. I made three trips from the mall back to the level 5 car park before even hitting the grocery store. Level 5 is pink by the way and it's now my de facto car park level. I figure if Rosie has to wear man shoes to school the least I can do is indulge her choice of parking levels. I didn't mean to do so much walking back and forth. I meant to go to the store and provision up. But on my way I ran into a store that sold pool toys and after making a purchase there it occurred to me that carrying two enormous pink pool noodles through the grocery store might prove cumbersome. Not to bore with you with all my impromptu purchases, suffice to say that by the time Rosie, Nola and I finally reached the grocery store we were exhausted. Why I didn't just turn around then and there and go play in the rain I can't say. Probably my overwhelming desire to start cooking with salt and pepper. At any rate, we filled that dang trolley with everything an unequipped kitchen might need; salt, pepper, oregano, flour, sugar, baking soda, regulators, you name it, it was in the cart. Then, I assume feeling entirely and unaccustomedly too dry, Nola peed her pants. In all fairness she had told me in the dog food aisle that she had to go. But it hadn't seem that urgent. "No worries!" I was told by the smiling young man with a mop (I have yet to meet an Australian I wouldn't want to vacation with). So on we forged to the check out. Where my credit card was declined. "No worries!" I was told by the smiling young cashier. She directed me to a nearby bank machine where, miraculously, I was given $300.00. Why the bank couldn't have granted my wish for the $ five minuted previously I'll never know. Maybe there were too many spectators. So here I go, naked into the rain with my provisions and no worries!