The weather can be very changeable here in England. It is well a known fact that the English discuss the weather so much because it is so unpredictable. The one advantage that we always enjoyed when we stayed in mobile homes or even in tents in the summer, was that we loved the hot sultry weather days that always threatened a heavy downpour. We stayed outdoors to enjoy both heat & rain. There was a kind of masochistic pleasure in feeling the heavy rain drops pelting against our nude bodies. I can still bring to my mind one particular day when we had 2 young children in our care as we went back to basics at a camp fire meal, mid-summer and very warm. All 50 or 60 people around us in various types of accommodation were enjoying a nude 'Garden Of Eden' type setting. Just after we had consumed copious quantities of food and fizzy drinks we saw ominous grey clouds drift lazily over head. The children yelled "Come under cover, it's going to rain heavy, are you mad?" We looked heavenwards as we slowly cleared away the food fest debris. That sweaty sticky feeling you get in a humid air felt slightly uncomfortable. We saw many around us were heading for shelter and strangely feeling vulnerable because of impending showers.
Then it suddenly happened without warning, a slight crack like a gunshot was our 5 second alarm! Then care such a torrent of stair-rod like shafts of rain, cutting like high speed water jets into our skins. We just looked upwards and felt that weird kind of pleasure of natures cleansing power-jet wash down. The children under canvas just a few feet away looked at us as if we were some kind of Eden lunatic people. They roared with a mixture of laughter & hysterical panic watching their apparently insane guardians dancing around in circles in some sort of naked rain ritual.
The only conclusions we have arrived at since that wonderful day is that we are just mad Englanders that frolic in all kinds of peculiar weather, then sit and talk about it until the next freaky fun filled weather event overwhelms us all.
So if you have occasion to begin a conversation with a Brit and you feel unsure about a topic, just say simply,
"What do you think to this weather we are having just now?"
33 thoughts on “Rain dancing weird English!”
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A very interesting story! I love the smell of rain and the cleansing it does to nature.
Over and over I quote my late uncle (I hope I have not done it here!) He returned to Gouda, in the Netherlands, where I spent the first 12 years of my life, from having lived for some time in Australia (Victoria). "How was it?" asked my father. "In Australia the sun always shines!" replied my uncle. "THAT's where we have to go!" exclaimed my father and since 1956 I have lived in New South Wales. His older brother had also been "down here" for some time too and returned to Gouda with such a dark tan, that he frightened me. (I was 9 or 10) when I opened the front door to him. My uncle had not exaggerated too much. Well! I certainly would not complain about Sydney's weather!
Thanks for your story Jo. My Uncle & Aunt moved from the UK to Sydney in 1960. They had quite a large family out there and subsequently grandchildren.
When they returned to the UK in 1989 intending to re-settle here it just did not work out. One reason Uncle Ted gave was "We left the wonderful weather, fabulous outdoor life & happier attitudes back in Oz!"
They returned to Bondi beach area Sydney in 1993 and just a few years later (2003) he passed away in a happier place he called home. Auntie Doris lived until 2011 in sunny contentment in a retirement complex of bungalows!
After some years of Internet I've concluded that everyone, everywhere, believes that THEIR weather is more changeable, unpredictable, and weird than everyone else's weather. there are some tendencies of certain places. Some places have wet and dry seasons, but some don't. Some places have more tornadoes and thunder storms than other places, but everyone seems to believe that their place is more changeable than other places. And everyone talks about the weather. Carpe Diem.
I was caught in pea-sized hail for a few minutes while hiking nude at higher elevation. It was fun but a bit chilly. 🙂
Sounds normal to me.
I should mention that my family moved here from Wales…that may explain a few things!
ha ha.. I know of a man who moved from Wales to near Manchester and said it was too wet in Wales! 😀
Same as Cleveland weather!…no coal mines here though.
And manchester is known as the rainy city….I think in Wales each county and valley has it's own sub climate.
Sounds a lot like us Naturists here, on the other side of the pond ; )
I love the feel and smell of Summer rain!
Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun…
and in the midday rain, apparently! 🙂 It's all fun and games until it starts to hail!
Precisely Roger!
Run away when all hail breaks loose!