A Nation's Favourite Topic
If there is anything
the English can always make conversation about, it is the weather; there is always
something to say about it.
I looked at my mobile
phone this morning before leaving home and noticed it was just three degrees
Celsius, in the middle of April. I had turned off my heating a couple of weeks
ago, as we eased into British Summer Time, which is everything British, but nothing
like summer, and barely feeling like spring.
One good thing: there
was no forecast of rain, a reputation some people are keen to attach to
Manchester more than reality suggests. It does not always rain in Manchester;
it just happens to coincide with when those observers visit.
Pelted by Hailstones
Yesterday, I thought
of going out for a walk. It was pleasant enough, though I had only anticipated
a drizzle. When the heavens opened, I was pelted with hailstones the size of opaque
tapioca pearls. Come to think of it, I have never been caught in a hailstorm
before; the most I have experienced of it is watching from indoors.
Lest I forget, we
also had a hailstorm a couple of weeks ago. I hope it is not becoming a regular
occurrence. Then imagine my surprise, knowing how cold it was, to see someone
about fifty yards ahead of me in shorts. Are you crazy? I cannot complain, though,
because when I am in South Africa, my tolerance of the cold makes others think
I am crazy.
Sights on the Street
Hardly had I put that
out of my mind when a lady of a certain age, a sexagenarian at the very least,
stepped out of her hotel for a cigarette in a white cardigan, just long enough
to cover the detail. You might have to lop off three to four decades to raise
any interest.
She was wearing those
disposable hotel guest slippers. You want to say to her, “Oh, darling, you
should never have stepped out of your hotel room like that.”
Then again, if you
have a nicotine addiction, what is the cold or decency, when you need to light
up and feel the warmth of your lungs filled with smoke? The sun is shining, we
are in double figures, and from everything I can see on the street, there is
another man in shorts whilst everyone else is behaving.
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