I’m woken by a small flash of light. It’s off to my right.
Is it from my bedside table? It could be my phone.
I’m half-awake now. My next thought is that flash was too long to be my phone.
Perhaps it was car’s headlight through the window? It seemed more like a spot light or a torch light than a car light. Besides it’s the wrong colour for a car. My next thought is that it’s pure white light. Uh-oh!
By then I’ve started counting off the seconds. I get to six.
Boom! The windows rattle. The roof shudders. The echo wends its way outside the house. It doesn’t enter. Then silence.
Another flash. I’m awake now. I count off the seconds again. Less this time. Another crash and boom. It’s getting closer.
It occurs to me that in a war-torn country I’d be running for shelter. I don’t. I wait and the silence repeats itself.
Just a moment! Where’s the rain? No drizzle or droplet or slap of rain on the wall outside.
From then on its a light show! The thunder is now a proper musical accompaniment. Sounds seem to spin and rotate through the air and collide with each other.
Finally there’s the sound of a heavy tear drop. The rain! Droplets slap the walls and windows and speckle the glass. A torrent at last!
Wait a minute. A tropical storm in Melbourne? See this video.
Yeah the video isn’t bad. But not so long ago. I’m standing at the bottom of a valley. It’s dark. The storm clouds arrive in seconds. Then the lightning and thunder.
Next I feel like somebody has thrown a bucket of water over me. Too late to get dry. Then another.
I look up and around me. I’m surrounded by lightning strikes. All around the valley. A perfect circular thunderstorm. And the thunder!
It’s so loud it echoes against itself.
Now that’s a tropical storm!
Andrew James Whalan 