What in the hail?

What in the hail?
Dude, Sydney got hit by a mother of a hailstorm today. What’s more, I managed to be out in it! At first I couldn’t figure out why my footsteps were crunching as I waded through the alley behind the shop on my way home. Once I hit George Street, I could see the white pebbles starting to dot the sidewalk. Luckily I had my umbrella and I managed to get on a bus without serious injury. By the time we hit Town Hall, the roof of the bus was getting pummeled and the streets were starting to turn white. Driving to Central was actually really fun, watching the Sydneysiders huddled in doorways gawking at the hail. Weather as entertainment! Our bus driver was incredulous. “It looks like somewhere else!” he kept repeating. When we stopped at Central, he jumped out to grab a handful as if to convince himself it was real. Me, I sat huddled in my street grinning at their wonder. Most of these people have never seen snow, and this is as close as it gets in Sydney. It was actually piling up in drifts created by the cars splashing down the street. I found that if I squinted just right, I could pretend I was on the school bus coming home on a wretched Indiana February day. And suddenly I was so homesick it hurt. Strange what can bring it on, you know?

When I got home I went out into the backyard to take a few pictures. The flowerbeds got quite a dumping, as did the picnic table. Tracey‘s already got two nice shots up on Flickr, and other Sydneysiders are posting theirs as well. I especially like this one from Morgan. Ooh, and Mary-Helen‘s posted some too.