Weather: It Sucks Here

Hello Internet,

I was walking down the street in London Town the day before yesterday when I looked up and saw what had to be the most depressingly funny billboard in the world, a British Airways advertisement that read: "Chin up, Britain. The sun is shining somewhere." Now, I have not been a Londoner for very long, but even I must admit that I have been somewhat deflated by the rather depressing weather over the course of the past.....since I have been here.

As a former Southern Californian, I'll be the first to admit that I don't really know what weather is, but if I did, I would know that it sucks here. The North Atlantic is just not as nice a place as Los Angeles, where a forecast of "sunny skies and seventy degrees" can pretty much be applied to 360 days out of every year, except for that weird five-day stretch in late December when these things called "clouds" appear and Southern Californians stop in their tracks and look upward at the cold wet stuff falling out of the sky. Still don't know what that stuff is called, but it's extremely common in this country. They've even invented ingenious devices called "umbrellers" that act as portable round ceilings to protect themselves from it. Katie keeps telling me to buy one, but I keep refusing to believe I'm going to need one ever again. And again. And again. And again.

So from this perspective, the BA ad really strikes a chord, especially given how close London is to everything European. Sunny Spain, refreshing France, illuminated Italy, and gorgeous Greece are only a few hundred miles away, and I must tell you, it's damn tempting from a weather perspective alone. Moving to Britain is a little bit like being transformed into a slightly wet, chilly vampire with a funny accent. The only nice thing about this arrangement is that all of the other slightly wet, chilly vampires around you are similarly distressed, so you're never very lonely.

And with that I am off to commiserate with my fellow vampires (and my lovely roommate) at the local pub, another charming British habit. I suspect that all of the bartenders here must supplement the local ale with Vitamin D, which explains why we're all in various pubs so very often. That, and with all that cold wet stuff falling out of the sky, it's too miserable to be outside.

Cheerio for now, Internet. Stay warm.

Siodhbrrrrra