It rained and it rained and it rained and it rained and it rained.....

It hardly seems to have stopped raining this week. Just as well that British schools half-term break was last week, although apparently for German schools it's this week. Rather disappointing for those who have come to Cyprus hoping for a week's sunshine and finding almost continual rain.

There was a break in the rain yesterday for a few hours, which was good as a friend who does house decorating and roof repair came to have a look at the small leak we've been having during heavy rain. He found a crack in some concrete, and repaired it. Last night there was torrential rain, and although there was still a tiny drizzle of rain in one place, it was much better than it was the day before. The friend will return tomorrow or Friday to do a bit more. Just as well he was able to come this week, since we've been told that this month is likely to be the wettest November on record for this country. According to statistics, Cyprus typically has 43mm rain in November, which isn't really very much. I wouldn't be surprised if we've had almost that much in the past few days alone.

So although I do like the cooler temperatures that come with rain (and recent drought years mean that we really need it) I was quite glad to think that we're flying to Singapore on Saturday, which is closer to the equator and will typically have daytime temperatures of 32C (which might sound chilly to anyone who still thinks in Fahrenheit, where 32 is freezing, but it's pretty warm - about 90F).

However when I had a look at the Singapore forecast for the next ten days, it looks even wetter than Cyprus. Warm, but rainy and thundery. And when I checked Singapore's climate statistics, it seems that November is their wettest month of the year. Oh dear. On average, they have a whopping 251mm of rain during this month! No, that's not two and a half metres (as I had thought at first, for some reason) but 25cm. Nearly a foot in imperial measurements, so still rather a lot. By comparison, our home town of Birmingham in the UK - which always seems pretty wet during November - expects only 58mm of rain during the month. Not really much more than Cyprus, the difference being that (a) it's warmer in Cyprus (b) when it rains here, it pours, and then the sun comes out. When it rains in Birmingham, it often drizzles for hours and stays grey even when it isn't raining.

But I wonder what on earth should we take clothing-wise for weather that's going to be distinctly warm, and also very wet?! We can hardly walk about the town in swimsuits...