Whether the weather be fine......

Whether the weather be fine
Or whether the weather be not
Whether the weather be cold
Or whether the weather be hot
We'll weather the weather
Whatever the weather
Whether we like it or not.

The weather is a British obsession. It's not surprising really. On the North West coast we have miles of fabulous golden sandy beaches.... and a very unfair amount of wind and rain.

In the 'summer' months a rare weather forecast of 23C for the following day would have us rescheduling every non urgent task and planning a picnic for the beach. Unfortunately, it might reach 23C a few miles inland, but the semi permanent wind of the Irish Sea made it feel MUCH colder, and the sand stung the children's legs and faces.

We did have some great times on the beach in the four years since we moved to Blackpool, but in 2008 the children didn't wear their swimming cossies once, which seemed a great pity. Looking back through the chromasia archives, there are lots of photos of the kids on the beach - but only one or two of them in 'summer clothes'.

Trips to the shops and work were very often made in gale force wind and rain, and once we returned home the heating would be turned up and we would snuggle on the sofa to recover.

Our trip to Bulgaria this spring has made us think differently. We arrived at Sofia airport wearing jeans and carrying coats (typically it was raining when we left the UK), and it took a few minutes to realise that it was WARM.

In the weeks that have followed we have almost got used to the clear blue skies, long hot days, and only the mildest of breezes. The children play out in the morning, and naturally migrate indoors as the day heats up. They play out in the evening, and everyone seems to go to bed later.

Today we had a storm. As I was writing my emails I noticed a breeze through the open balcony door. A few minutes later another door slammed, and I noticed the trees were moving. A trip around various balconies around the house confirmed that clouds were moving in, and a storm was on the way. Dave was outside moving more firewood to its final position, and had also noticed the shift in the weather. As we pondered on the chances of a storm thunder began to roll around the valley, and the kids squealed in excitement.

When the rain hit, it hit hard. It was the sort of rain that soaked though your clothes in seconds. In the UK we would have been freezing and bedraggled, but here the kids ran outside, in summer clothes and barefoot, to dance in the rain :-)

The gutters from the house spill into spouts overhanging the garden, and the kids found these 'showers' great fun, as gallons of rain water poured off our roof and over their heads. When the storm finished, the girls came in to change into dry clothes (after taking their wet stuff off in the shower!), but Finn was quite happy pottering about outside, poking puddles with sticks. Twenty minutes later the balconies were already dry, and the wet clothes were drying on the line.

A month ago I couldn't imagine looking forward to rain. Now we are grateful that it means the seedlings will need less watering, everyone gets a chance to cool down, and its a chance for the children to do a different sort of playing :-) We are looking forward to snow too - but I'm not sure we will manage the winter temperatures here!

If you watch the clip of the kids playing under the water spout, you might want to turn your sound down. Their squealing is rather high pitched!