Day 55 - Taking a rain check

Another full day and evening of work for both of us, with Phil off to see his colleague Les to start writing their book. That means its time for another off-the-cuff look at what makes England so special to me.

The weather. There I've said it.

Now, when most people think of England, they think it rains all the time. It is a lush, green country, so yes, they get rain. But what you forget it that it's an island, stuck out in the Atlantic, so like any coastal area, it is subject to the unpredictableness of its weather. In Southern Ontario, we can see our weather coming from across the mid-western US for about three weeks ahead of time. So, we're almost always ready for it. We may bemoan our weather forecasters, but in truth they are usually correct about what to expect in the week ahead.

Shelter from the storm.  Source: geograph.org.uk

Not the case in England, and that's why I think people feel like it is always raining. They've been caught out in it too often!

Here if you want to know the weather, you need to look at the forecast about 12 hours out. No need looking at it the day before to make plans. Yesterday, for example, today's weather was predicted to be overcast. White fluffy cloud kind of overcast, not Great Lakes solid mass of grey.  But, upon awaking this morning, the forecast was adjusted to white fluffy clouds in the morning, changing to partly sunny by noon and bright sun in the afternoon. And you can almost always take that forecast to heart.

If rain is at all predicted, tuck an umbrella in your pocket as you will most likely see it. But here's the good news...you will also almost inevitably see the sun at some point during the day. Those winds off the coast never cease, so clouds are constantly on the move. They rarely get blocked in for days at a time, and they rarely form a solid mass of clouds as they do at home. You can almost always make out the fluffy form of clouds, even during a storm.

I once compared the precipitation in London, UK to my former hometown of London, Ontario. The big London gets 22.976 inches (583.6 millimetres) of precipitation per year. The small London  averages 39.82 inches 1,011.5 millimetres, and much of that falls as snow over a winter that lasts about 6 months!

And when it does rain in England, the fact that it's green here 12 months a year means that lovely fresh scent of damp leaves, grass and soil is always in the air. [Breath deeply as you read that line. Hold. And exhale as you read it again. Feeling more relaxed?]

I've always said, if a place is beautiful to you in the rain, than it is truly beautiful.