Thinking Aloud On a Sunday

~ beetleypete

Rain in Summer.

After a hotter than usual summer, it started to get colder during last week. That was unexpected for the end of August, when it is normally hot and humid.

Then almost thirty-six hours ago, it started to rain.

It went from an annoying drizzle to a full-blown downpour, and then it didn’t stop. The rest of that day, all that night, and all day yesterday it kept pouring down. The noise of the rain was increased by a strong wind lashing it against the house, and against me and Ollie when we were out on his dog-walk too.

Any idea that it was still the end of the summer was banished by the dark skies and constant hammering of the rain.

By late last night, I really had reached the end of my tether with it, and my mood was very low. Weather like that makes me feel trapped in the house, almost claustrophobic, and following the freedom of that earlier warm and dry weather, it was even more depressing.

By the time I went to bed, I lay there listening to the rain hitting the window for the second night, and even before I got off to sleep, I was dreading getting up to another day of it today.

I write a lot about rain on this blog, mainly because having to go out for a long time every day with Ollie has focused my attention on extremes of weather like never before in my life. Some people like rain. Others say things like ‘it’s good for the garden’. People who live in hot dry countries welcome rain with excitement, even festivals.

But I actually hate rain now. I never want to see it, hear it, or feel wet from it one more day in my life. If it never rained again here I wouldn’t mind. I would be very happy in fact. The past eight years of my life have been dominated by rain. Flooding in outbuildings, problems with guttering, and the constant daily soakings every time I went out with Ollie. Dealing with mud, trying to get a saturated dog dry enough to go back into the house, and stripping off clothes that got wet despite investment in expensive ‘waterproof’ outer clothing.

If you only ever experience rain by looking at it through the windows of your house and car, try to imagine being out walking around in it every day, seven days a week.

But it has finally stopped.

At least for now.

60 thoughts on “Thinking Aloud On a Sunday”

  1. Back again, Pete! 😉 Sorry! Hope you are well, Ollie is well too, and the weather is less British like you had told last Sunday. Have a beautiful rest of this Saturday, and a famous Sunday. Will re-work the missed postings. Michael

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  2. Constant rain is really depressing on top of all the other problems you mention. Today it became cold and rained all day. I still want summer and sun- not that we have it every day. If it rained every day, I’d be hard pressed to to feel happy and upbeat. The problem for you was that your sunny stretch was blistering hot, so you couldn’t enjoy the weather. Loose-loose.

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  5. I imagine it has a lot to do with where you live. We typically get a lot of rain in the winter, but we can go for several months in a row without a drop. Lots of folks in California would love some rain right now as wildfires are raging everywhere. Fortunately, we live in a mild area where this isn’t a problem.

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  6. If you hate rain, send it here, send it here, send it here! We’d welcome it not only for 36 hours. I won’t exactly say we’d welcome it for 36 days, but I kind of feel like even that.

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      1. Well, for the rest of your life would be a bit longish, wouldn’t it? I think even with the present drought here and the need for rain we wouldn’t quite relish that! 😉

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    1. When it is so dark in the summer, it gets me down. We have nine months of dark, so I want at least three months with some brightness. That’s the issue that comes with the rain here.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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    1. If I had 10 SAD lamps, I would still have to go out and walk around in it, FR. I think it’s looking out of the window and knowing that I will be out in soon that makes me feel the worst. I don’t mind so much when I’m already out, and get caught in it.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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        1. No more dogs for me, after Ollie. For one thing, I have never had such a well-behaved dog. And for another it is far too restricting on everyday movements to always have to get back for a dog, or take him with you.
          As for that wettest part, I am convinced that Beetley has a micro climate, as it is often not raining in Dereham, less than 4 miles south.
          Best wishes, Pete. x

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  15. We once had a summer camping holiday in Wales. We had to buy an enormous tarpaulin to put above our no longer waterproof tent and sat for ours in the laundrette putting our clothes through the tumble dryer. Then we drove to Dorset.

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    2. Haha… this made me smile. A friend and I took our kids to a caravan in Scarborough over the August bank holiday and hurricane Charlie came too! (this was back in the ’80s). We had to send our kids to the swimming pool so we could wash and dry their clothes!

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      1. I had plenty of those miserable caravan holidays in the past too, Jude. They were old-style caravans too, with the toilet block across the other side of a muddy field, and a big water container that had to be wheeled to a tap to fill up. 🙂
        Best wishes, Pete. x

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  16. You explain exactly why I don’t have a dog however lovely they are. When I was a student I always boycotted lectures on rainy days. Luckily I had a friend with beautiful handwriting whose notes I could copy.

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  18. Honestly I don’t mind rain myself, as I love it when it pours outside, and I’m inside reading a novel or watching a good movie. That said, when I have to go outside and it pours, that’s definitely something I hate as well. I once was caught in a torrential downpour that was so bad, that I was shivering all over when I came home. So, yeah it’s a bit of a mixed bag for me. For you though, I hope it stays dry for the coming days and you can enjoy your walks outside with Ollie😊

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    1. Thanks, Michel. My obsessive hatred of rain has become rather worrying. It can ruin complete weeks for me, sometimes months. If I ever go clinically insane, it will undoubtedly be because of rain.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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      1. Well, let’s hope that’s not going to happen Pete😔 I hope the weather will remain relatively rainfree the upcoming weeks. And combined with hopefully all the household stuff soon out of the way as well it will all hopefully go better again. Will keep my fingers crossed for you🤞😊

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  19. Wouldn’t it be lovely if we could order rain on tap, when we needed it just to keep things fresh and green, from midnight to 4 am, for example? But then everyone would have to agree, and that, as we know, is no given…

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  20. I don’t mind the rain, but I must say I wouldn’t like the wet dog aspect of it. But hey, that’s okay as I don’t have one! I hate the rain combined with high winds though, especially when I’m walking to work.

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