The Drizzle of Qing Ming? 清明時節雨紛紛?

Thatch your roof before rainy weather;

dig your well before you become parched with thirst.
~Chinese proverb

The Qing Ming Festival or "Tomb Sweeping Day" falls on the 4th of April this year. It is a traditional festival observed by the Chinese race in many parts of the world to honour their ancestors at grave sites. In Singapore, where Qing Ming is not a national holiday, most Chinese would visit their ancestor's grave sites within a period of about 2 weeks before and after Qing Ming.

Miraculously, the solemn mood of Qing Ming is also marked by a period of intermittent rain and groomy weather. This phenonmenon has persisted for centuries as depicted in the ancient poem by the poet Du Mu (803 ~ 852)

The erratic weather means that the Qing Ming period is also the goldfish breeding season. However, the intermittent humid weather and rain also pose a huge challenge to outdoor goldfish keeping with common outbreaks of diseases. The biggest batch of fries are now more than 40 days old. Though they are bigger and much more resilent to diseases, the technique of using shallower water to groom these fishes makes it even more challenging to keep them outdoors in this haywire weather.

The torrential rain yesterday had disrupted the Malaysian Grand Prix and caused many floods in Singapore. I recorded more than 6 cm of rain in less than 2 hours.

Videos:
1) The rain of yesterday that causes many fresh floods in Singapore.

2) 41 day old BBR hunting for daphnia.

Pictures:
fries at 41 days old