on the weather

i cycle to school every day, rain or shine.

When it rains, it reminds me of home.
When it snows it's pretty, and a challenge.
When it's windy, it's like being at the sea side.
When there's a typhoon is hard to move.
If it's rainy season, I get soaked to the skin.
When I'm bracing myself against the cold & can't feel the tips of my fingers, I try to remind myself that winter only lasts 3 months here.
If it's sunny and warm, I'm surprised at first that I don't need a thick coat.
When it's sunny almost every day in winter, I can't believe that it's so dark and gloomy in England. I hope I remembered to put my sun cream on before I left my house.
When it's hot and humid, I remember that I'm in Asia.

Maybe I should try and make that a bit more poetic.

When it's cold I start off freezing and get to school in a sweat.
Even in Japan it snows. Skidding to school doesn't happen too often...
Almost always I cycle on crunchy snow which is slow but feels safe.
Then when it's icy i hope my brakes work OK.
Humidity reminds me I'm in Asia.
Every day is sunny in summer- great to have a clear blue sky.
Rainfall reminds me of home. Copious amounts are an experience.

Acrostic poems are a cheat's way I reckon... It was always the easiest kind of poetry to do at school- no need to bother with words that rhyme or iambic pentameter! Then again, I remember being surprised and impressed when I learnt in an OT lecture at university, that quite a few of the Psalms are acrostic- each line starting with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet, in alphabetical order. Shame some things (quite a lot really!) are lost in translation.