No More Cloudy Days

If you're from a place like New York, you've probably seen some extreme weather. You've seen Lady Liberty under snow, water. A massive ship going through 5th avenue. Meteors ripping through Lincoln square, and fire through the Lincoln tunnel. Probably paid a fortune for the ticket too.

But seriously now, don't tell me the weather in New York City is not fun. Snow shutting down Times Square, and at the same time, right below, at any average subway stop, you get in and could linearly blow dry your hair when the subway runs by. Feeling too cold on New Year's eve ? you can always pretend to be a tourist and squeeze among a million others, only to see what you've probably seen a million times on TV..

We'll complain about the temperatures getting too hot, just a few months later.

But hey, that's what's fun about it. The diversity.

Before I came to the UK, I've always wondered if things are what you see on TV. Clouds and rain, tea, posh accent, butlers and generally boring things. Let me tell you already. There are no butlers. Not sure about the rest, I'll probably find out as I write.

I've been here for over a year, and I can't say it has been really cold. I can't say it's been really warm. I can can tell you, the brits do consider the weather a major thing. but I don't know why. It's not very surprising. Wanna know what the weather is going to be like today ? It's going to be sunny in the morning. A washout around 12:00, Sunny again in a couple of hours and clouds passing by through the night. Take an umbrella.

Never look at the weather forecase, at least not the English one. Those guys must be high on tea. I mean, you'll watch it for a week, and the stories about the worst storm of the year coming up next Monday will show again and again. Dramatic pictures of snow, hurricanes and houses under 7 feet of water will come up on the screen, and as Monday approaches, more warnings, yellow, purple, red, black will be issued. England, brace yourself. Are you ready? Do not walk or stand under trees, people. If you live next to one, do not look at it. Did you remember to plug every electric device in your house ?

The best thing about it is all the excitement. Who doesn't like a good stormy weather. Don't forget a flashlight. I mean, I wanted the weekend to be over just so I could see some extreme weather.

And then comes Monday. Looking up the window, not a single cloud in the sky. Was the storm actually here, but it's just that my street got stuck in the middle of the eye ? I did see a few branches moving and to be honest, you know that feeling you get when you want to sneeze, but it's not coming ? That's how it felt. It looked like it was going to rain for a couple of minutes, but it never did. :/

Did the storm realized it was more interesting in other parts of Europe and decide to change ? I wouldn't be surprised. This is what's it's like. There is no extreme weather just, mild, grey, days. And it does get grey, don't let the twitter solders tell you it's not: I'm sure you've seen it. Ask why the weather's bad, and you'll probably get one of these:

1. Don't generalize. Some days are bad, some are good. The Brits are politically correct. Very. At least when it comes to other people.

2. Statistical answers: "The amount of rain is equal in Spain/Italy/The sun". It might be, but it's probably not spread all over the year.. I'm not a scientist, and I've only been here for a relatively short time, but I can tell you this: the clouds, they'll be there, almost all the time. It's grey.

3. This is a common answer for many questions. "You don't like it? Why are you here? Go home". As if you're asking to change the weather.

The weather here can be a good thing. Haven't seen almost anyone here who won't talk, again, about the weather. Take my neighbor as an example (and that's probably for another post). Never seen the guy since I moved in. After a year, I see him for the first time, he introduces himself (only when I went first, of course), runs to his car. As he drives off, he looks at me saying "lovely weather, ey?".

Pretty much every conversation will start with the weather, and it's not like anything is different, and yet the Brits seem to talk about it as if it's the first time they've seen rain. "Wow, did you see the rain?!?!" "Yes, Benedict, we live in England, I have seen it, trust me".

It's pretty interesting to see that in a country where rain and clouds there most of the time, when you can safely predict that it's going to rain a lot, you get floods, and why? the city "wasn't prepared", and then it rains, and you get floods in the exact same areas. I mean, did you think it was going to turn into a desert this year ? You had floods last year. It's going to rain again. Do something about it, yet again, just like my neighbor Benedict, most people seem very surprised when it rains again.