I thought I would mention that I'm currently on long leave. Here are the two reasons for that :

I won't return to work till May next year. Things are quite busy now, looking after 2 children, so I only manage to get a few minutes online at intervals during the day. I decided that I would at least get my blog done (maybe I should rename it "Memoirs of a Meteorologist") before my leave is over, and also brush up a little on my met. knowledge.

Incidentally, I was due to give birth to No. 2 on 31 March this year, but my colleagues kept joking that since the baby's parents are both meteorologists, she should arrive on 23 March instead (World Meteorological Day) ... and it actually came true.

My mother in law, who lives in Malaysia, had sent us several Chinese names to choose for the baby, & I thought this one looked nice :

I wanted to know what it meant, though. I couldn't find it in my Chinese dictionary, & because I'd left name choosing to the last minute, D only tried calling his mother to ask the meaning after I'd given birth, but couldn't get through. Finally, he dropped by the office; Mr S, the walking Chinese encyclopaedia, wasn't around, but C the Toothbrush Man was, & he had a more comprehensive dictionary. The word ("wen") was inside, and it meant something like "the dappled pattern of sunlight falling through clouds". I thought this was very pretty, & I guess it's appropriate that the baby have a name with a meteorological meaning since she was born on World Met. Day!

Here are some other Chinese girls' names.

"Xia" also has a lovely meaning, "clouds shining in the light of sunrise/sunset". Well, maybe we'll save it for No. 3