After the rain....

I wrote yesterday about the thunder and rain, which was really the first good rain for quite some time.  A bit came through the roof over the stairs, but by the time I went to bed the rain had stopped and the little puddles had almost disappeared. 

However, in the night it started raining again, quite heavily.  It had stopped by the time I got up this morning, but by around 7.00am when I was just thinking about walking down to the PO Box, it started again:

There was some blue in the sky so I was hopeful that this would not last too long; and, indeed, about twenty minutes later the sun came out.  

As I stepped out into the wet world that greeted me, I was struck again at how very clean everything looks after it's had a good downpour.  There always seem to be flowers blooming somewhere, and I snapped a few such as this one:

And this one, which I believe is called a bottle-brush plant: 

Some of the raindrops can still be seen on the leaves of this one, if you click to enlarge the photo:

This one, too, with vivid yellow blooms, looked very pretty sparkling with raindrops in the sun: 

There were puddles on waste ground, which will no doubt provide more breeding place for mosquitoes:

Some puddles in the streets, too... but I didn't see any really flooded roads.  Perhaps the new drainage system is beginning to be of use even if it isn't all connected: 

It would be nice if the roads could be re-surfaced after their extensive excavations, but perhaps that's too much to ask. 

Shortly after I arrived home, the rain started lightly again. Then around noon, there was some torrential pouring, making me glad that Richard had put the usual bucket and cool-box on our stairs to catch some of the leaks: 

We always need rain in Cyprus, so I hope this has gone some way to filling up the reservoirs again.  More is predicted tonight, and tomorrow.  Autumn has well and truly begun.