The Melonpocalypse

So I managed to grow on a few melons from seed, enough to fill a couple of bags of compost or soil or whatever it is.  Anyway, having grown the seeds on past the carrying capacity of their small pots, it came time to plant them in these bags and put them outside.  I waited for the right time; warm enough that it was not going to freeze again, and with good enough weather that they would get a decent start.

Yesterday was forecast to have slight wind, fair amounts of cloud and some rain, so I thought I may as well put them out at that time and let the plants get a taste for the outdors before any serious weather came into play.

Yesterday there was a mini-typhoon.  The weather news got it completely wrong (at least the weather news I subscribe to) and it was bloody wet and bloody windy.  The wet obviously isn't much of a problem, but the windy certainly was.  The small seedlings were blown about like comedy umbrellas, folding all over the place.  The upshot is that I don't know whether they've survived or not.  Even if they do survive they'll likely have PTSD and never regain their vigour.

On the plus side I hear that smaller fruit and veg tends to be tastier, so assuming something lives and bears fruit, they'll be the tastiest melons in the world.

I did keep the other germinated melons around just in case of emergency, so if it comes to wholesale change then I'll do what must be done.  Wholesale melonslaughter.  The downside to this plan is that I deliberately chose the strongest ones to put outside, so the only ones that are left are the pathetic weaklings that barely made it out of the ground.  Melongenics is a tough, tough business.

SUPER MASSIVE (small to medium sized) TYPHOON

A typhoon is going to make landfall today, with strong winds (obviously) and lots of rain (obviously).  It's already been pretty wet today, and this is just the leading edge.

I fear for my house because it's made of paper, held together with nothing but hope and the building is administered by a crazy landlady who tries walking in whenever she feels like it.  Luckily, I've had my door locked ever since my second day of being here, when a random foreigner walked into my house of his own accord.

That seems to be commonplace here.

Of the typhoon; the temperature has dropped to the low 20's, which is glorious.  I hope it's a factor of the season rather than this weather event, but I suspect it isn't.  It's also heading up the length of the country (see the link).

It's only a small one so people aren't particularly fussed, although I am somewhat suspicious of the projected trajectory.  Look at the previous path of the storm and you'll see that it went around in a circle.  No way did anyone predict that; which means this, like an earthquake, is unpredictable at best.  I wouldn't be surprised if it missed Japan entirely.

As an addendum, the internet delivers when no question has even been asked!  That's what the graph in my previous post should have looked like, and that's why the chair, once it's attached to the machine, is a real bastard to pull loose.

#Update#

All the kids are going home in ten minutes because the typhoon is trying to kill people down south.

Initially I laughed because they have to ride home on their bikes if their parents won't pick them up; but then I realised that I'm obliged to stay until my contractually pre-arranged hour.  Why send the kids home?  Because they don't want the little brats caught in the strongest part of the storm, which will be from now, until who knows when (the centre of the storm is passing right over us, and it's not calm like a tornado) which means I will be riding home in the hell-storm.

That wiped the smile off my face.

Then again, IT WILL BE HELLA FUN!  I can't wait.

I want to go stomping around outside pretending to be a dragon, splashing around in the puddles roaring.

Then I want to play a game of rugby in this weather, for about twenty minutes I bet it'd be awesome.  No one would be able to pass the ball.  After that twenty minute period I'd be exhausted and go home.  Probably with polio.

Finally, Some News

Before we start, the song I couldn't think of last time was Blurs - Park Life.  Thanks for the comments.

Unfortunately, the interesting news is only weather related.  Bummer right?

If you look quickly at this website, you can see the typhoon working its merry way up the country, at a rate of about naff all centimetres an hour.  It's not technically a typhoon, the wind speeds are not high enough.

If you look here, you can see a projected path.  I'm nowhere near the actual storm, I'm just getting the offshoots and flak from the cloud.  If it follows the projected path, I may well encounter some of the fifty knot winds, however.

The reason this is interesting news?  I was awoken at 4 AM by the lightning preceding the storm.  It wasn't quite raining yet, but the storm was brewing nicely.

A prototypical European high energy thunderstorm would contain a large number of flashes, with extremely loud bangs over the course of a short period of time.  The rain would also follow a similar pattern, with heavy rainfall in short bursts.

The lightning here follows the pattern of - mayhem, followed by deafening noise and a helping of terror.  The peal that woke me up had a three or four second delay between the flash and bang.  The flash woke me up, with my curtains drawn.  The thunder shook the house.

In all honesty, I thought something had exploded, because nothing else happened for about thirty seconds.  By this time I was in the kitchen getting a drink.

Then, out of nowhere, god defibrillated Tochigi.  This bang had a simultaneous lightning strike and thundering explosion.  My intestines shook and my ears were ringing.  At this point I shat my pants,  I don't mind admitting as much, and as I opened the window to take a look outside (risking the obvious association with metal) the hairs on my arms stood up.  It must have been exceedingly close, although I'll never know exactly where it struck.

If someone was struck in this storm, you wouldn't even know - they'd be vaporised.

So after a few more strikes some miles away, I went back to sleep.  At this point it was raining quite heavily.

After the alarm woke me up, I could hear the rain pouring down.  It had presumably rained non-stop since I went to bed, and it showed as I cycled to work.  After donning as much waterproof gear as possible, I cycled through foot-high waters, being drenched by every passing car.  They don't slow down or stop for individuals on the pavement or riding their bikes.  Mannered people, indeed.

So the upshot is that, despite the best efforts of the Japanese people, I'm quite dry.  Except for my socks, which I've been forced to take off.  I didn't think far enough ahead to bring a spare pair with me.  Also, their play area (I would call it a field, except there's no grass) is under a few inches of water right now.  When do these people close schools?

I can't imagine all the trains will be running, this preponderance of weather would halt even an English train!  Wait, our trains are notoriously hardy right?

Spare a though for the guys working at fukushima, not only are they killing themselves, but now they're doing it in the rain too.  (At least it's still 30 deg C, at basically 99% humidity, eh?)

P.s  I've just read this article about a publication being made/not made public, regarding the RFU.  Someone fill me in, what happened to make the report necessary in the first place?

Tropical Storm Warning.

Check this link to see the storm brewing in the Korea area.

It's the Japanese meteorological society though, so it might be bunk.

These things have a high chance of changing direction, and for the sake of the island, I hope it does; it's missing us at the moment!

We'll only be in the indirect firing line, as it were, but another day off might be nice.

Weather and Hyperbole Update

So there's a monsoon coming, apparently. The only forecasts I can find suggest a rather subdued smattering of rain and cloud, with a small chance of lightning. If this is what passes for monsoon weather over here then no wonder they have so many, the Korean MET office probably consider sea spray to be a bonefide hazard.

Maybe I'm just being cynical though; the event hasn't happened yet so who knows.

But after the Japanese cataclysmic typhoon/monsoon that never was, I will retain this cynicism.

I will endeavour to upload at least a handful of pictures tomorrow, and indeed it might be better that I do so, as it will force everyone to come back and read it time and again as I frequently upload a small number of pictures...