Be careful out there, it’s raining potholes

Life’s not fair. Not by a long shot. Just look at all the rain of the last week or so.

Yes, we do need the rain, and yes, it is an answer to many prayers following a devastating drought which ravaged large parts of the country.

But come on.

When the American duo The Weather Girls sang about rain, it was because it was raining men.

Who will ever forget their 1983 hit in which they shared the good news: “Tonight, for the first time, just about half-past ten, for the first time in history, it’s gonna start raining men.”

Now there’s a reason to really rip off the roof and stay in bed.

And then there was the little fictional town of Swallow Falls, the setting for the computer-animated science fiction comedy Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Remember how aspiring inventor Flint Lockwood in 2009 developed a machine that converted water into food, and it rained meatballs and cheeseburgers.

Now that’s a storm we could do with here in South Africa once a week. Although, we might appreciate it more if it could rain pap en wors every now and then.

But no. We are blessed with what used to be called the geelperskereën: Ten days – or even two weeks – of constant, never-ending rain ranging from a light drizzle to a torrent of water from the sky.

The name geelperskereën, according to folklore, is rooted in the tradition of distilling mampoer using yellow cling peaches.

Although the tradition still lives on, the accompanying rain has become somewhat erratic, and out of kilter timewise.

Now, looking at the current wet spell, I reckon we are dealing with a whole new phenomenon: It’s not raining men, it’s not raining food, and it’s not peach season yet.

But what it is raining, is potholes.

Yes, in the last week, thanks to the rain, we have probably seen the biggest eruption of potholes ever witnessed on our roads – from little water-bowl sized cavities for birds to bath in, to trenches one can use for warfare.

We need a name for this new phenomenon. Any suggestions?

Danie Toerien.

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