Feast of St. Leo

Storm clouds gathering
before the downpour

It actually rained ... I mean, rain!!! Not drizzle like the last few days but real rain!!! All night too! Just when we thought it won't rain. The temperature dropped to 12 degrees or so ... but it felt like 10 degrees. And a very strong easterly wind was blowing. Feels like real winter at last. In fact we even had a blackout at about 11pm ... incredible! Like the good old days when we had several blackouts a day because the rain short-circuited the centuries old electric system of the Old City. We had to have candles in every room and every staircase. And we had to study for our exams by candlelight. If anything, last night was a tiny reminder of what used to be 20 years ago.

Most of us felt the coming of the rain yesterday evening - our joints began to ache. My knees were so painful I couldn't climb up and down the stairs. I was sure the rain would come. Natural weather station.

Today is also the Feast of St. Leo the Great, the pope who stopped Attila the Hun from destroying Rome in the 5th century. Well, St. Leo must be great ... he did bring the rain!!