Summer

Well, that was short.

Yesterday afternoon the temperature started to rise again, and my room last night was its usual 30 degrees when I came in. By morning it was 28. The past two days it was down around 25 in the mornings. And now I'm sitting in my office with the air conditioner on at 8:30am, wiping the sweat off my brow. And getting up from my chair every now and then to peel my knickers off my bottom.

So summer is back. It's really hard to get a sense of what the weather is supposed to be doing. As I said yesterday, the changes in weather are subtle by Canadian standards. There has been a change since I arrived early January but the daily high has been consistently 32 and nighttime low around 27 — until Monday.

Even trying to figure out when the rainy seasons are is tricky. There are two, a major and a minor one. Before arriving, I had read the major was in April and May, the minor in August September. A typical conversation starts with me noting there are almost no mosquitoes (I didn't even see one for the first month I was here). The knowing reply is "Oh, when the rainy season comes you'll see them, all right." "When is that?" This is where things get complicated. Answers have included:

• April/May
• August
• June
• May/June
• September
• June to September

I think part of an explanation is people always think about when the rains come in their home region (though neither they nor I live there) and the rainy season does (I've read) vary from north to south, and along the coast.

I guess I need to ask when the rainy season will come to the University of Ghana, Legon campus.

For now, I know rain, mosquitoes, and malaria are in the future, and at present it is hot and humid here at the University.