Friday, October 8, 2010

Where it rains 'fishes and frogs'


Strange events have been happening in my hometown of Nakuru, famed for its flamingo birds at the Lake Nakuru national park, among other attractions. These strange occurrences, in my humble estimation will soon lead to several consequences.
A few days ago, fish and frogs 'rained' from the sky in Nakuru, and weather experts have warned Kenyans to expect more such spectacles. According to Dr. Joseph Mukabana, the director of the Kenya Meteorological department, "...this is going to occur more often because of climate change." Now, i have for a long time had an axe to grind with the Kenyan weather department and 'weather forecasters'. They never 'forecast' anything, but are always making predictions, based on 'reported' occurrences. But i digress.
Dr.Mukabana-Kenya's Chief 'weather forecaster'

Back to Dr. Mukabana-statements attributed to him, explaining the phenomenon are that fish and frogs are sucked from the water surface by strong winds into the clouds, which eventually rain down all that has been collected. He went on to add that when this happens on land, it is referred to as a tornado but if it occurs on water, it is called a waterspout.
I suspect that teachers of the English language in schools in and around Nakuru are about to have a very difficult time. They will no longer be able to convince (or even confuse) their students that the expression 'raining cats and dogs', used in the English language to mean 'raining heavily', holds any water. The fact is, they have seen with their own eyes, fish and frogs raining from the skies, climate change or not. The phrase 'raining cats and dogs' is thought to have been coined in the filthy streets of 17th/18th century England, where heavy rains would occasionally carry along debris comprising of dead animals, cats and dogs included. I doubt any teacher in 21st century Kenya would have it easy explaining that away, in the context of the 'Nakuru fishes and frogs phenomenon'.
My other suspicion is that some 'pastors' and 'street-preachers' are already having a field day. I am wont to think that many 'ordinary' citizens of my beloved hometown, have no clue who Dr. Mukabana is, let alone what 'climate change' means, or the spelling of 'meteorological' is. The only source of 'official' explanation about the 'fishes and frogs', in my considered opinion, for the 'ordinary folks' would come from the usually vocal and enterprising 'pastors' and 'street-preachers'. I imagine they would be inclined to make strong comparisons to 'manna', which in Christian parlance, is the name for the food miraculously sent to the Israelites during their 40 years sojourn in the desert.
The only trouble is, frogs are not yet a culinary delicacy in Kenya! To my fellow Nakuru citizens, make sure you have strong umbrellas-or better still, don't leave your buckets at home-fishing has just become much easier!
I wonder what else 'climate change' is going to change!!

No comments:

Post a Comment