Last night we had our first rain for four months. It's kind of crept up on us and we didn't realise it was raining until I went outside to do my weights at about 9.00 p.m. At first I thought someone was playing with a hose, so unfamiliar is the sight of rain! I rushed out into the yard in my shorts to enjoy the feel of raindrops on skin. The shower didn't last long, but it does mean we are in the transition month between the dry season and the wet. April is reputed to be the hottest month of the year. You have to be mad - or poor - to go out at midday. It'll be nice to have the cooling rains sweep over the country again, though where there has been choking dust on the roads and sidewalks there will soon be clinging mud. The rivers, which have dried to a trickle, will be full again and as the wetlands are submerged the stilt houses will be surrounded by water, restoring a certain harmony. No doubt we will have to wade to the classroom at Preak Eng again! But last year's floods were devastating and destroyed many crops, causing great hardship countrywide. Fingers crossed for a more gentle monsoon this year...