Let's Talk About the Weather

From the moment we first thought moving to England might be somewhere in our future, I think KJ had an impression of a people that drank tea and talked about the weather.  And though the English certainly don't have a monopoly on talking about the weather, it really is a distinctive.  For some reason, even I feel a deeper connection to what is going on outside here than I ever have before.

I bought a book on Christmas Eve entitled The English Year, A Literary Journey through the Seasons.  It's a compilation of journal entries written on each day of the year.  I thought it sounded really interesting, but I didn't realize when it said "through the seasons" that each entry really would be literally about the weather and what was blooming or being harvested at the time.  I was focusing on the word literary, but the book is actually more focused on the seasonal aspect.  KJ thinks it's pretty boring.  I'm kind of fascinated by it.

I thought this observation by Horace Walpole in 1775 might sum up English weather pretty well, though of course I'm still a newcomer and don't have a lot to base this on.

I am perfectly well, and heed not the weather;

though I wish the seasons came a little oftener

into their own places instead of each Other's.

From November, till a fortnight ago, we had such warmth

that I should often be glad of in summer -- and since

we are not sure of it then, was rejoiced when I could get it.



There are some boring entries but there are also some more interesting ones. 

January 18, 1835
The few days' severe weather ceased, and it became spring again.  What a climate is ours!

March 7, 1814, Jane Austen
Here's a day!  The ground covered with snow! What is to become of us?  We were to have walked

out early to near shops, and had the carriage for the more distant.

All we can say about the weather this past week is:  completely gorgeous.