Today, Harriet left the house at 10 am to run a bunch of errands. At 3 pm, it was still scorching hot. For those of you who have not experienced summer extremities in Hong Kong, try to imagine humidity and trapped pollution within 35 degrees Celsius of heat. Not something sunglasses and umbrellas can take care of. By 4 pm rain pours and Harriet got stuck in a department store.

Apparently the heat from yesterday and earlier in the day is due to a tropical cyclone, or we usually call it typhoon, coming our way. These things never go to Singapore, but when Harriet was a kid, typhoon days were happy days, because school will be canceled. Nonetheless, typhoons are serious business . Harriet used to stay in a high rise flat on a hill. The winds were so strong, we need to tape crosses on our windows to secure them when there's a typhoon. Back then, Harriet only saw trees swishing around, at most being snapped out of place and blocking the school bus route, whee! XD

Harriet lives in the urban area now, and Harriet has seen debris flying through the streets. Harriet even saw a billboard being ripped out of its frame. Pretty scary stuff. Staying indoors is generally safe, and it is actually pretty cool to observe the city as it comes to a halt and watch the storm raging through the city. Kind of cinematic as Harriet would describe it as.

Typhoons are less common and less violent in the recent years, which is a good thing because there will be heavy rainfall following a typhoon and it's kind of annoying really, though it brings down the heat. >_<