Monday, 16 July 2012

wet wet wet

It's been raining here for weeks, I'm not exaggerating. I do the school run in the rain. I grocery shop in the rain. I do the after school activities run in the rain. We stood in the rain for 3 hours to see the Olympic torch. I walked in a parade in the rain for 2 hours with the kids. We sat in a friend's backyard under a gazebo in the rain for his birthday party.

Sodding, stupid, relentless, miserable, soul-destroying rain.

The kids finish school this week, and the thought of being cooped up with them for 6 weeks is more than a little bit terrifying. When it rains and they can't go outdoors, they go mental. They've been mental pretty much every day since the middle of May. My wine consumption has increased accordingly.

Every week, the forecast looks like this:

 It's going to be a long summer.

Sometimes there's a brief break in the rain, like that hour we got on Saturday at 4pm, but mostly it's permanently soggy outside. Actually, we did get another sunny break last week that lasted for an entire afternoon, and it was glorious. We sat outside, basking in the sun, relishing the warm air on our faces. We ate our supper on the deck and sat out there until the kids went to bed. It was a happy, happy day. Then it started raining again.

Anglia Water had us on a hosepipe ban, which meant that we weren't allowed to use hoses in any capacity (e.g. to fill paddling pools, water plants, or wash cars.) Why? Because apparently we were in drought. They claimed that it would take weeks and weeks of torrential rain to even begin to fill our reservoirs back up again, and hahahahaha that was never going to happen! WHAT WERE THEY SMOKING? Needless to say, we're no longer under a hosepipe ban. Idiots.

People back home have been complaining about the heat and lack of rain and to be honest, I can sympathise with that. When it's too hot, you can't really go outdoors (or at least, not for long) and I never had air conditioning in any apartment I lived in once I left home. I remember hopping in a friend's car at 11pm and doing a tour of every store that was open 24 hours a day, wandering around these air conditioned havens in a state of bliss. It was something like 40C even at midnight.

So many events have been cancelled this "summer". We're off to Cornwall again in August for a week, and I'm losing hope of getting any beach time. Last year, it rained for the last 2 or 3 days, and that was miserable enough. A week in the rain would be hideous. There are only so many times you can see a movie and go to the soft play centre.

I just want to see the sun. Doesn't have to be hot outside, just sunny. And not even for the whole day - maybe just for an afternoon and evening. Please. For the sake of my liver.


Anonymous said...

We've just had an absolute downpour here, just as I was reading your post. It's horrible, and that's from someone now used to living in England's rainy city. I'm so grateful that we had a week in the Canaries now! I shall live in hope that it improves before you go away, just to protect your sanity.

Mrs Dee said...

Thank you! xx