it's been raining upstream. Really raining. The Yarra is, for a change, swollen and powerful-looking. Along the stretch I ride beside in Kew, the water now swirls around the branches that once leaned over the surface, reaching down. I suppose the banks, long dry, are being undercut and some trees will fall. The river is broader and faster-moving. And because of the soil washing down from upstream and from the banks, it's browner. Usually it's a kind of faded khaki, but now it's a deep, rich brown. I wonder if we could change its label from "the river that flows upside down" to "the river of chocolate." That should drag the tourists in...