For three days and three nights it had done nothing but rain… The sky had been washed away, the sea had vanished into the dense Scotch mist, the land had turned into a grey and green saturated sponge, and the hills were slipping down in sheets of horrible, slithery mud and stones, onto the lower ground.

Of course it had rained on most days of the year so far, but not usually with quite so much dogged determination – and this was supposed to be the height of summer, after all… Algy knew that there was no point looking for somewhere dry to perch, as there was not a dry spot left in the world, so far as he could see. So he plonked himself down disconsolately on the sodden grass, and watched as the puddles grew bigger and bigger and bigger…

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Soft spring rain was falling gently on the beach, and on the tidal pools among the seaweed and rocks. Algy was delighted to see the wee circles and ripples that appeared and vanished again as each raindrop touched the water, so he perched close to a large, shallow pool, where he could watch more closely. He was so much occupied in studying the patterns that he really didn’t notice that his feathers were getting increasingly soggy and damp… Algy just loved the rain when it fell softly, so as the drops fell onto the pool, he quietly chanted one of his favourite poems to them:

          Let the rain kiss you
          Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops
          Let the rain sing you a lullaby
          The rain makes still pools on the sidewalk
          The rain makes running pools in the gutter
          The rain plays a little sleep song on our roof at night
          And I love the rain.

Algy hopes that if raindrops are falling on you too, you won’t be angry with them, but will let them kiss you :)) xoxo

[Algy is quoting the poem April Rain Song by the 20th century American poet Langston Hughes.]