Bevolo and the Dog: Rain

It is raining! After weeks of lovely sunshine, a tropical storm has developed 300km north of Fort Dauphin which is now doing nothing for my suntan or the radio's ability to pick up the BBC world service from the Seychelles. The forecast is for the rain to continue for more than a week, so I figured that it was a good time to update Bevolo and the Dog.

It is cyclone season after all and we have had hardly any rain for nearly a month so we really can't complain and the plants are happy to see it. Boy, do plants grow fast here! Blink and inches appear. We were eating watermelon the other day and a few days later I noticed there were loads of tiny seedlings where the pips had ended up. Note to self - must start a vegetable plot - can anyone advise on a website that gives good advice to the novice gardener in tropical climes?!

One plus point on the weather is of cause, that the waves are HUGE! Samson is having a ball. He keeps coming in from surfing telling me that he 'nearly died out there' it was that big. Even our little cousin 'Relax' (yes that is his real name, I have seen it on his school report) came back yesterday looking positively pale but thrilled. Samson says that there is a 16 foot swell which is really nice and smooth at the moment - just ignore the rain and get in there - Boscombe eat your heart out!!

The rain also seems to have heralded a parade of some very weird and wonderful wildlife. In the last week or so I have seen in or around my house:

chameleons - really beautiful green beasties that look at the world so carefully, they always make me smile
geckos - our constant companions seem to be in fighting mood at the moment. I found one poor beastie who had died from a nasty bite lying on the terrace. May be there is an invasion going on from the next door gecko mafia? You wouldn't think that such cute looking beasties could be so violent!
crab spider - is it a spider or is it a tiny crab... who knows, but I don't want it in my bedroom thank you very much.
cicada - the ones that make all the racket if it is hot and wet... Samson caught one last night to show me, pronouncing that 'they are good to eat'. It looked like a fat grasshopper to me and I am not really feeling brave or hungry at the moment!
two mice - are getting very cheeky indeed... they spend the evening helping themselves to rice out of our rice sack. I think that their days are numbered!
scorpion - small, black and hiding behind my shampoo bottle... it was v. late at night and I should have made a bit more noise before going into the bathroom - my fault really.
spider the size of my hand - Samson says that that sort are 'fine, just leave it alone they are more afraid of you than you are of it'... I don't think he comprehends the level of my fear (!) It lives in the bathroom as well...
But the worst has to be the leach that came out of my shower wall - uurrrgggghhhhhh - Can you tell that there is a bit of a theme appearing here? Note to self - we are building a new bathroom as soon as we can!

Blackie is not very brave and simply barks at anything strange in the garden - including gas bottles or anyone wearing a hat. However beware if you are a fly, her favourite game is to catch you! Don't be too freaked out by the above, you just have to remember that there is nothing in Madagascar that is going to do you too much harm - all the really nasty snakes, spiders and beasts with teeth live in mainland Africa. I am sure that the wildlife will soon fade into the background for me, but for the moment I am still a stranger in a strange land and it is a constant fascination to me.