There are some cities that are nice in the rain. Rome, for instance, has lots of cobblestone streets that get interestingly reflective in a spring evening shower. And if London weren't at least tolerable in the rain, nobody would live there, so I figure it can't be all that bad.
Kabul, suffice it to say, is not one of these cities. Many of the streets of this fine city are dirt roads--or at least they were until two days ago, when it rained for the first time in my almost two and a half months living here. Now said streets are ribbons of mud, punctuated with the occasional (unintentional) speed bump, and pockmarked by puddles of Brobdingnagian proportions. Walking on these streets feels like walking on black ice, because within about 20 feet one's shoe treads get packed full of mud, leaving one to slide around haplessly.
And then there is the fact that what passes for a sewer system in Kabul, called wialas, run alongside most major streets and are open to the air. They don't generally smell as bad as one might think (perhaps because I think most houses actually have septic tanks), but they present particular hazards on the muddy "sidewalks."
In short, I'm not too thrilled by this whole "rainy season" concept here.
P.S. Apologies for the long hiatus in posts: have been working on a huge report--25,000 words--that is just about done at this point. Posting should resume more regularly now or in the near future.
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