I like rain. Rain is good. First of all, Beijing doesn’t have enough water. More rain equals more water. Secondly, rain cleans the air, but unlike wind, it doesn’t bring with it the threat of dust and sand and other nasties blowing around. It simply, quietly puts the pollution on the ground and washes into lakes and streams and rivers, which is a better place for air pollution than my lungs.
Which is why I’m quite happy with today’s weather. A solid day of gentle, cool, fine drizzle.
Of course, my students did not understand why I told them the weather was beautiful today. But I don’t understand their point of view: You know your city faces a desperate water shortage and that rain helps fend off the desert, even if only for one more day, and you know that rain cleans all that nasty muck out of the air enabling us to breathe something clean and healthy, if only for a day, so why are you complaining about the weather? And no, it is not cold yet. It is merely cool.
