Rain and hail

Wow, there was heavy rain this afternoon - no surprises there. 15 minutes into the storm, hailstones size of golfballs rained down for about half-hour. What a racket. Not to mention the howling winds too; unfortunately there were no flying debris to add to the excitement. Well I wanted to go out and take some pics but I guess I would have been stoned to death.

What's life without a bit of excitement?

A little bit crazy

Feels like the weather had gone a bit crazy over the lat few days. Initially it was blisteringly hot; then came the afternoon and evening rains, and today - heavy rain in the morning!! There goes plans for a picnic...

Wonder whether this has anything to do with El Nino/La Nina phenomenon...or is it related to the global warming problem? Probably both...but I guess we have to endure the dampness and cold (for a change!) for the time being.

Water, water everywhere!

So what's the big deal about floods this time of year? Yeah it always happens in the East Coast...with the monsoon season and all...but it's not the East Coast which grabbed the headlines. Off all places it was Johor, on the southern part of the country!!!

Well it's not limited to the east coast either...it's all over the state, including parts of the state capital. Thousands were forced to flee their homes and stay at makeshift relief centres. Talk about disaster. And Johor is the target for the next big Malaysian plan: Iskandar Development Region...unless they find out what the problem is and take steps to correct it, the IDC will probably drown in it's own filth...literally.

But that does not take anything away from the efforts of the Government, Civil Defence, volunteer organisations out there tirelessly working to help the flood victims. Kudos to you guys and keep up the good work. As to all the generous people out there waiting to help the victims, kudos to all of you too. And let's hope that this time the money, food, clothing, etc really gets to the people who need them and not to some parasite waiting in the wings...

Hah, like that's gonna happen in this country...

Blurred Vision

Well the annual haze is back...although it's later in coming this year...guess we can't miss the choking burning sensation, teary eyes and pungent assault to our senses, now can we?

So goes the blame game again: as usual Indonesia is the culprit. But I really wonder whether they can help it...with the rural population depending on the slash-and-burn technique to clear land for farming, guess the government is helpless to prevent burning of large areas of jungle; however what they can prevent are large oil pam plantations doing the same to clear the forest for planting season - fine them, and fine them severely. However I doubt the government, or local government has the backbone to do this. And oh, it's the same here in the country. I can see at leat two open burning sites going on in the outskirts of the city, but no authorities around to put a stop to it...must be the fasting month, or the lack of a spinal vertebra...

Oh we Malaysians have gotten used to this...we'll complain and rant about this now, prepare ourselves for next year, and forget all about it once the haze disappears; and do this all over again next year. Hey it's so annual it's like Chinese New Year, Hari Raya or even Merdeka...maybe the goverment should make it into an annual holi-month...now wouldn't that put a lot of smiles on to the faces of Malaysians (I guess there's plenty of unhappy faces with the price rise and failure of a salary increase currently!!)

So much for the 20/20 vision. Anyway today the air quality appears to be better, and I guess we better take advantage of it...maybe go and jog later in the afternoon...as the saying goes, enjoy it while you can!!!