Having spent a large part of my adult life in the North West of England, including Manchester, and now living in Glasgow, rain is just part of everyday life. From mizzle and drizzle to stair-rods and 'cats and dogs', bouncing and stoating, and many, many more.
I recall, and have shared many times, the occasion when I was asked to take a South African exchange student to register at the Manchester University Library. It was raining, and he said, "so we can't go." I looked at him, probably a very old-fashioned look, and said, "if you don't go our when it rains, you'll never go out"
After a wonderful, and uncharacteristically dry October (though it was very similar in 2009 when I arrived, and I have a thing about 6-7 year weather cycles!) it is now making up for it here, with lots of full on rain, some of almost monsoon quality!! And I found myself recalling that even Shakespeare knew of such weather when he wrote Twelfth Night whith Feste observing (maybe metaphorically) "the rain it raineth every day"...
When that I was and a little tiny boy,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
A foolish thing was but a toy,
For the rain it raineth every day.
But when I came to man's estate,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
'Gainst knaves and thieves men shut their gate,
For the rain, it raineth every day.
But when I came, alas! to wive,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
By swaggering could I never thrive,
For the rain, it raineth every day.
But when I came unto my beds,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
With toss-pots still had drunken heads,
For the rain, it raineth every day.
A great while ago the world begun,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain.
But that's all one, our play is done,
And we'll strive to please you every day.
As anyone who lives in the wet parts of these islands will tell you, there's no such thing as the wrong kind of weather, just the wrong kind of clothes!
