Burns my feet as they touch the ground

A large, unfamiliar object was spotted lingering in the sky over Singapore today. The extremely bright disc, approximately the diameter of a human thumb held at arm's length, moved along a path almost perpendicular to the ground, passing near the zenith at about 1 pm, and the object appeared to move the length of its own diameter approximately every four minutes. Residents were apprehensive but not alarmed at the mysterious object, which was accompanied by a shocking shortness and lightness of today's rain.

However, despite a wonderful reprieve today, the heavy rainfalls of this month have been resulting in the island getting flatter and soggier in surprising chunks. Besides the landslide at the National University of Singapore, yesterday also had a landslide at Bukit Timah Hill, tallest point in Singapore, in the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve; and another at the MacRitchie Nature Reserve. The Bukit Timah landslide damaged part of the Tiup-Tiup trail. Novice walkers are advised to use the Dairy Farm Loop or the Seraya Loop and leave Tiup-Tiup to the experts.

Already, though, Singapore's had twice the average rainfall for the entire month of January, and Sunday had a rainfall of 163.22 millimeters, the highest since last January 24 (177.8 mm). They're projecting over 600 mm for the month, which would top last year's January as the wettest month in 50 years. It's been cold, too -- Wednesday reached 22.5 Celsius, which for here is cold.

On the ever-so-fascinating laundry front: I got some lime-dissolving compound and rinsed it through a couple of washer cycles. I also cleaned out the filter when I realized I had no idea when I last did that, and I've got a load drying from it. The clothes I put on the indoor rack yesterday didn't quite dry all over yet, but I only belatedly thought to turn on a floor fan on them.

Trivia: Between the 1854 opening of the Camden-Atlantic Railroad and 1857 fifteen train stations opened between Camden and Atlantic City, New Jersey, despite the terrain being largely forest and swamp. Source: Boardwalk Empire, Nelson Johnson.

Currently Reading: The Romans, Donald Dudley.