Xiaoyu is the name of my lady friend in China. She lives in the south in Nanning, the largest city in Guangxi province. We have been writing to each other for about seven weeks now, emailing pretty much every day. Her English is very limited but I can see that she is doing her best, what with not having much time and no internet connection.

It's hard to say where things might go. I haven't been short of a date this year and there are other options perhaps easier than doing it the hard way. And this is, relatively speaking, the hard way. Even though we are slowly building a small body of knowledge about each other (being at an advantage language-wise, she knows more about me) it will still be a huge leap into the dark if I fly to see her early next year. There are a dozen or so photos exchanged, what we have written about - but no telephone or skype-style communication.

But I'm up for an adventure. Since returning from Japan six years ago, my life has been pretty staid. If you'll excuse the glitch of a marriage breakup, somewhat routine and safe. You know, I'm not one for straying far from my comfort zone. And this is, undoubtedly, straying.

First there were months of dry. Now we have had a lot of rain. Huge storms occasioning the loudest claps of thunder I have ever heard. Or can remember hearing. The gutters by the road (or what passes for gutters in Hazelbrook) have been like crazy rivers, swollen and dashing erratically.

Today the sun is out again. The grass, which for a very long time was a mere yellow crust on unwatered earth, is turning, well, green. And trees in the mid-garden area are in collision, so strong is the growth. All good. But for the strangeness of the weather. Pressaging what, I don't know.

I have been writing to someone in the south of China. This surprises me a lot. For a start, her English is quite poor, though improving. Nor is this my usual modus operandi. I guess time will tell whether opposites and difficults can work out. I have an open mind about it.

Weather and romance are dancing in a surprising symmetry.

typhoon haiyan

autumn's entrails,
unwrapping grief's giant spider,
wordless, this watching.