It’s hardly surprising we have rain at this time of year. It is rainy season after all.
What can surprise is how much rain can fall.
We’ve just had a 15 minute flash storm of mainly rain and heavy winds, but in just a short space of time a huge volume of water fell.
We collect rainwater for use around the land - I wish it was connected to a few more uses, like coming into the house, but that’s another story.
We have a 700 litre tank that collects rain that flows off the roof and into the gutter. Our system would probably be fine for ‘normal’ rain, but Thailand doesn’t have normal rain. It has RAIN rain.
Our gutter and tank prove to be pretty useless.
Where the rain falls, and lies, is also a pretty good guide to how we should or shouldn’t use our land.
In the garden there are a few distinct channels forming and one option is to dig a little to make it a proper water flow area. This could help us manage the water a bit better, but it also means that these will form rapids when the rain falls, and may take a lot of nutritious top soil with it.
We still haven’t worked out what to do.
Around the house we’ve planted a bunch of bushes and small trees, and Hana also created a small channel to prevent the water eroding the ground around foundations. Again, it’s all trial and error. We’ll see what works best.
Most storms are over quite quickly at the moment, and then clearing up begins.
The balcony works well as it protects a lot of the house. The monsoon winds come from the south-west, and dry patches can even be found on the eastern side of the house.
The first week i was living here we had a few midnight/early hours of the morning storms and I have to admit I lay awake more than a few times imagining the house being washed or blown away. Thankfully it’s made of sturdier stuff than me, and I’m now over that.
But Dudley hasn’t quite yet worked out how to avoid the wet. His brother camps out under the balcony for shelter but Dudley doesn’t follow.
We’re not sure he’ll learn.
