There aren’t very many thunderstorms here in Prague, so when one happens by it’s cause for celebration. I’m sitting at the Little Café Near Home right now, and outside the window the bottom has dropped out of the sky and the rain is dumping down.

I saw the first flashes off to the west, over Žižkov, and as the storm gained intensity the thunder went from a rumble to a crash. The street outside has become a river, and people are dashing into the café for shelter. They have to fight their way through the knot of people crowded under the tiny awning over the front step, and were there room I would be out there with the other spectators.

The window is open, however, and I’m ignoring the occasional raindrop on the electrical outlet in favor of the the clean, fresh rain-driven breeze. What’s the worst that can happen?

In the time it took English Loud Phone Talker (Elpht) to come in and polish off his Red Bull and espresso, the storm passed. The smell lingers, but not even distant rumbles are audible anymore.