Precipitation

It has lashed down in these 'ere parts most of today and actually I don't give a fiddler's flute because I rather like the rain [I know I might be in the minority here] but to me - us Brits still going about our business in the rain typifies that stoical mustn't grumble attitude that's part of our national character. Oh I moan about the rain just like everybody else particularly if it interferes with my plans for the day but if the weather wasn't always so changeable how on earth would most of us strike up a conversation. Talking about the weather is not only an obsession in Britain but also a safe opening gambit.

Descriptions of rain have come up a couple of times recently in my reading matter. The familiar adage "raining cats and dogs" is possibly derived from the close association between cats and the weather in Norse mythology [it was believed that witches would disguise themselves as cats when they rode the wind]. Dogs and wolves meanwhile were the attendants of Odin, the God of Storms. Together they represented torrential rain and fierce winds. Another one I love is the Welsh 'old women with clubs' with the circular sheet of splashing water suggesting a wide skirt and the centrally rebounding droplet a cudgel.

A few quotes on the matter that caught my eye:

"Without the rain there would be no rainbow."
G.K.Chesterton

"Thy fate is the common fate. Into each life some rain must fall."
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

"Many a man curses the rain that falls upon head, and knows not that it brings abundance to drive away the hunger."
St Basil

"The three great elemental sounds in nature are the sound of rain, the sound of wined in a primeval wood and the sound of the outer ocean on a beach"
Henry Beston

"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass- it's about learning to dance in the rain."
Vivian Greene

Finally, it gives me the perfect excuse to use this photo I found which frankly just made me snigger!

Arilx