Category: rain

Let it rain

Joey Jones5 Comments

What is your favorite type of weather?

Oh dear, WP. You’re asking a Brit about the weather. Don’t you know we have a bit of a reputation for chatting about it with anyone who will stand still long enough?

To be fair, we are islanders, so historically, it was a subject everyone wanted and needed to know about. Farmers and fishermen were especially aware of how quickly the climate can change and their livelihoods depended up on it.

By now, we in the UK have had enough. So when it was the hottest March day recently, since records began, it all kicked off, and it was wonderful. Lawns were mowed. Outside furniture painted. Curtains washed. Way to go!

The atmosphere was bordering on electric, palpable. The relief was immense. It was exciting. It was fun to see folk fired up and living in the moment.

Of course, there will always be miserable gits amongst us ‘ Hello, nice day,’ you’d say in passing. ‘ Won’t last’ they’d reply. Best give these kind a wide berth, but sometimes I want and occasionally do say ‘ look, if the worst thing that happens to me is I get soaked walking the dog, I’ve got off lightly’. Food for thought, I hope. Although it probably lands on deaf ears.

I do identify as a pluviophile. I love the rain. Obvs, it’s not very nice when it is accompanied by really cold conditions and strong winds and you have to be out there. But the rest of the time, it’s great. The icing on the cake is the puddles are where birds can drink and bathe in.

In the moment

Joey Jones4 Comments

What activities do you lose yourself in?

WP you asking bloggers about which activities they lose themselves in. Mmm, now then, I wonder what one of them may be? 

Is being out in nature an activity per se? Walking is obvs, but I am talking about immersing myself in nature. Being mindful of every single moment, movement, sound. The smell of the woods, hearing the stream race along. The sun shining through the trees or rain  dropping from the sodden leaves. The crunch underfoot or the slosh of puddles of mud. The birds.

I’m wondering. Maybe I lose myself in everything I do now that I have the time and space to do so?

Messaging with friends, making coffee, listening to the radio, looking out of the window-watching the squirrels, reading the posts of my fellow/favourite bloggers, driving everything, and anything i can think of.  even chilling. Yep, they all have my undivided attention, thesdays.

Dogs and polecats

Joey Jones6 Comments

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….