Am I a rain stopper?

Last week while reviewing the shopping list for Kili I realised I've never had a real chance to try how waterproof all the waterproof clothing I bought so far actually is. I mean, it did rain since December last year when I bought my jacket and boots, but either I was at home/at work/other indoors at that time or the rain wasn't hard enough to test the properties of my kit properly. So I told myself to actively look for an opportunity to get outside when there is a real proper rain.

The first chance presented itself just the next day. After I woke up from my afternoon nap on Saturday, I've noticed it was raining outside and it wasn't just a drizzle. Not a heavy shower either but acceptable for my purpose. And I needed to go to the supermarket anyway. So I dressed up into my jeans and put the waterproof overtrousers on them, put on my hiking boots and covered myself in the waterproof jacket. Ready to go, out of the house, two steps and... it had stopped raining. Nevermind I thought, the clouds were still there, it would rain again. Unfortunately after a few more steps I realised I wouldn't be able to go on in the overtrousers which were just too hot to wear with jeans. I had to return home and left them there. That didn't matter at all as there wasn't any more rain for Saturday...

Since then similar scenario had repeated itself during the week several times including this morning. I was preparing to go to War Memorial Park for my every Saturday's park run and I was actually happy about the rain because not only I could test the waterproofness but I would also do a six mile walk to and from the park in my hiking boots! No need to say that it stopped raining in just about a minute after my set off. Fortunately it was fairly cold so the overtrousers and the jacket were wearable (and bearable) and keeping me warm. There wasn't any rain during the three hours I was out although it did start again after my return home...

Makes me think - am I a rain stopper?

Funnily enough, just yesterday I bought another waterproof jacket - lightweight one - as we both agreed that our North Face jacket (although three season type) is just too warm for anything above 15 degrees Celsius. If my rain stopping ability is real, we will hopefully not need it :-D

Some more physical shopping has been done yesterday - wide brim hat, spare laces, high SPF lip balm, the already mentioned jacket, more socks, fleece etc. etc. - and some more online shopping too - couldn't resist to by a swimming suit named "O Beach Zanzibar" (on sale too, so not a very difficult buying decision) :-) All this shopping was a great excuse to do a little stocktake so I pulled all my stuff out of the drawers and had a good look at what I have. Surprisingly I have found out I could use some of my running stuff as base layers so that ticked more stuff off the list too! With only five weeks to the departure it was just about the time to get the list shrinking!