Red Alert

This weekend Montpellier was on red alert due to non-stop rain and 100 km/h (62 mph) winds.

Solution? Why sit around, eat, drink tea and talk, of course.

Crazy rain, cheese lady continues

Contrary to commonsense, Saturday I dragged my friends to the market (because they have become my ultimate addiction here). Walking there was manageable, a little sprinkle here and gust there; nothing threatening. Halfway through picking up my discount vegetables (three huge bowls of eggplant, avocados and bell peppers for 5 euro, by the way) the clouds opened their flood gates. And when I say flood gates I mean sheets and sheets of pelleted water. Bullet sized rain. We thought we could wait it out. Twenty minutes later it hadn't let up. So we braved it. We got to the center of town (Place de la Comèdie) and completely drenched, we decided to duck back into a café. A leisure coffee and torte later, we thought we might be ready for more.

At the movie theater

I have never been so soaked in my life. Not even when I had swimming lessons in Holland where I had to tread water fully clothed for two minutes. The streets were about knee high in water. Rivers were pouring out of drainage pipes and there wasn't any end in sight. Our coats, our shoes, our clothes underneath our coats: dripping sopping wet. The trams stopped and the only thing left to do was to sit inside, make a delicious meal (thanks Sarah) and listen to music from our middle school days. Sometimes taking it easy is just what the doctor ordered. This time the doctor prescribed it by way of red alert rain.