Rain, Rain, DON’T Go Away.

As I gaze out of my living room window at the torrential rain and pervasive gales. Conditions that is representative of our national British summer, I’m reminded of the solace of being confined to my own domicile during these tumultuous 11 month, rain soaked periods. Having declared my enthusiasm for spontaneous, often capricious recreational walks in previous correspondence, it may seem contradictory to relish in the bleak melancholy of my often intemperate climate. It certainly restricts the activities we can do as a family. The mandatory visit to the coast during school holidays becomes an impractical venture, when all of the accessories that make the beachfront such an attractive destination, like ice cream, fairground attractions or skimming stones across the ocean’s surface on our many pebble strewn beaches, are compromised by the harsher conditions. Everyone associates temporal weather with depression and conversely sunshine with happiness. I mean if a child were to draw themselves outside on a bleak, rain soaked day, the teachers would be concerned about their mental health. Personally I think sunshine is overrated. The celestial star, not the movie.

About a month ago, prior to the predictable deluge of showers, the UK experienced a period of unseasonable warmth that sent the temperature, as well as fan purchases, soaring. Bathed in a scorching heat that descended on the populace like an elevated stove, the general British public couldn’t wait to satisfy our nation’s two most prominent addictions: complaining and subjecting ourselves to the same thing we are complaining about. Suffering through a stifling humidity that leaves you sleep deprived, irritable and sweating profusely from pores you didn’t know existed. With enough lingering mugginess to reinforce the conviction that global warming is a very real threat. Until a month later and the great British weather once again reminds us that it is as inconsistent as a Daniel Craig Bond movie. We are not a people conditioned for such persistent warmth and as a consequence should embrace the more autumnal atmosphere.

Now I’m not just talking about going for a casual walk through your local woodland. Exposing ones self to the scent of the early morning due lingering amongst the damp leaves and fallen branches. Although I personally find short stints like this rather liberating. But as a gamer and a movie enthusiast, these damp weekend sabbaticals provide the ultimate excuse to indulge in these much neglected recreation’s. And not just selfish, solitary endeavours either. Some of the most endearing moments you can have as a father is in the interactions you exchange playing games and watching movies. The broadening of one another’s perceptions through these sporodic interactions. These are the moments you will both remember. With rising costs and stunted salaries, staying home is certainly the cheaper option. One that makes the absence from these periodic excursions, all the more satisfying when you do venture back out. And sometimes it’s just nice to simply doze off on the sofa, listening to the rains gentle tapping soothing you into a state of total cognitive tranquility. And considering the turmoil wrought by my working week, sometimes sleep is all you really need.