An unexpected kindness

The rain has come and it is torrential. The thunder was so loud last night (just the one clap to be fair) that I jumped. But the rain here lashes down and just does not drain away.

I popped back home between lessons for something and when I had to go back it was hammering down. I looked out. The roads were flooded, which is what seems to happen every time it rains hard. There was no other thing for it; I had to go in. Yes, I know I should have come prepared but I had been planning to get things this weekend - I've been ill with a cold, so I have not had chance to get a pair of boots or an umbrella. I left these in England. Well I was coming to Sicily when it was 30 degrees and I had to leave something out of my suitcase.

All the roads round the school were like rivers. Literally - there were a few inches of water in the road in all directions. I set off with fifteen minutes to spare but walked up and down roads trying to find a dry spot to cross. After getting a foot full of water there really wasn't much point in worrying so in the end I had to brave it - there was literally nowhere dry to cross - and my feet were wet through. The worst thing possible when you are recovering from a cold, I know. So I went into school in the world's foulest mood, blaming all of Sicily (to myself) for its stupid weather (when the truth is the only one to blame was me, because I hadn't gone to buy the necessary stuff).

The office manager, my manager and one of the owners showed sincere concern, knowing that I was recuperating. They insisted I could not be left as I was, even when I had taken my shoes off to dry. Part way through my lesson there was a tap at the door. Valeria asked what shoe size I was. I thought she was perhaps going to hunt in lost property.  A short while later I was asked to step out so I could try on a boot. Somehow Valeria's mother had become involved and had purchased a pair of boots for me from a boutique across the road. (I had walked past it and thought about going in to buy some boots, but thought better of it because I was already late for my class).  I tried them on and walked up and down. It felt a bit like being at the shoe shop. "How are they?" they asked. I liked them - funnily enough they are almost the same design as the pair I have at home.  I enquired after the cost, but the school owner very kindly insisted they were a present. Which I am still shocked by, in a good way.

I realise they probably all think I am a total idiot being unable to dress myself appropriately at my age, but it's been circumstances really, with me being ill and only here with minimum things. And I said how my entire family would be mortified and cross that I was not dressed appropriately. I do, thankfully, have my raincoat with me. But this weekend, now that I am better, I will buy a selection of winter items. It's not cold yet - it was 20 degrees yesterday in the rain which was weird. But it is not summer any more. I did read it rained in November, before I came, but I dismissed it (it's Sicily. How can it rain?) and the truth is I did not have space in my case for everything I needed. God knows what I did bring but it does not seem much now. I bought an umbrella on the way home. Not a cheapy one. A normal one.

So my faith has been restored in the Sicilian experience, a little. Things are starting to look up. Just slightly. Jo and I live to experience another day. It is still raining hard outside. We may not be going to the Botanical Gardens tomorrow but we will be doing some Italian lessons inside.