What is your favorite type of weather?

In the UK there are many ways to describe rain and how it is falling. Colloquially we might say bucketing down, pouring down and chucking it down. All rational examples. This idiom we have all heard said at some stage, but the etymology is unknown.

In a play written in 1652 Richard Brome called City Wit, it was said ‘ It shall rain dogs and polecats’. Brome was known for being heavily influenced by the works of others ( perhaps not quite plagiarism?) So it was no surprise to learn that a year earlier in 1651 Richard Vaughan’s had a collection of poems published in one of which he describes a roof secure against ‘ dogs and cats rained in shower’. But why Vaughan should imagine / use that expression remains a mystery.

Leaving all negative connatations about wet weather to one side. I find a certain beauty in rain. The way it cleanses and refreshes. How it leaves puddles in the streets for the wildlife to access. To see a bird taking a bath at the roadside is an absolute joy to me. But best of all is lying in bed at night, cosy and warm, the dog by my side and rain beginning to pit pat on the window. Steadily the velocity and volume increase and forever I could lie there listening to this magical sound, that conjures up absolute peace….