I thought I heard the brush of a shower when I woke up yesterday morning. Just to ensure I heard the right sound, I looked outside the window and the pavements and the roads indeed looked wet. It wouldn’t have been anything remarkable to write about if not for the fact that it was the first decent rainfall that I came across in my two months in Melbourne! Before this rain, Melbourne has received a meagre 2 mm of precipitation since the start of the year. One could be forgiven to think that Melbourne lies in a desert, except the amount of vegetation does still suggest the otherwise. The dry conditions are one of the contributing factors to the ferocity and number of forest fires this summer, and thankfully this rain is supposed to linger for another couple of days yet. Hopefully this will finally rein in the remaining fires that are still burning. Something ho-hum in many parts of the world, rain has become a much treasured rarity in Melbourne and brought back some much needed joie de v