The unfair thing about British rain

I discovered this today, and I think it’s totally unfair.

So Britain has a reputation for raining a lot, and it’s not totally unmerited (though not as merited as I might have thought, because — at least in Essex — we have a fair amount of sunny days), and today when I got up it was raining.

Sort of. I mean, it wasn’t raining hard. It doesn’t rain hard very often here; in fact, usually it is just a light drizzle that looks much rainier than it is, and it seems like you can see lots of raindrops falling in front of you but you aren’t getting hit by all that many. Whereas at home when it properly rains, each individual raindrop is deliberately searching you out so that it can fall on you and make you as soaking wet as it can possibly manage. When I put my hand out the window, it did not get hit by a lot of raindrops. So I figured it would be fine if I walked down to Tesco for my groceries, since Sunday is my shopping day, and walked back unless there was a handy bus to take me (which I knew there wouldn’t be because it’s Sunday and the buses do not love me on a Sunday. Or ever.)

Okay, but here’s the thing I failed to factor into my calculations. Even when it’s not raining very hard, it still gets you wet. And if you stay out in the not-very-hard rain for a long time — say twenty minutes or so, the approximate time it takes me to walk from my flat to Tesco — enough raindrops will find their way to you that by the time you get home you will be very, very wet indeed. In fact soaking. And you will have to put your dripping coat onto the radiator in order to remind it that it doesn’t work unless it is dry.

Anyway it made me cross. Why must it look so harmless if it will soak you so thoroughly? Stupid rain. I can hear it drizzling harmlessly on my window pretending it never did a thing to anyone in its life. HUH. I know about you, rain. Fool me once, shame — shame — shame on you; fool me — you can’t get fooled again!