Caught in the Rain in London

When I lived in St. Andrews, it rained maybe a handful of times. Supposedly the Scottish town is in the driest and sunniest part of Scotland, but let’s please add an asterisk next to that statement. That means nothing to someone who grew up in Florida! The year after I graduated, my friend Euan mentioned, who continued pursuing a doctorate, that it rained almost every single day.

Ever since moving I constantly was worried about being caught in the rain in London. Mostly because I wasn’t somene who knew how to really handle commuting and living my everyday life with the rain in London. I went through a year with minimal rain and minimal use of my umbrella. I’m not complaining as I often hated the rainstorms in Florida. Hated is a strong word, but I honestly couldn’t stand it as I felt they were planned on the very few occasions I made plans to be outside. This autumn in London has been an exception. With lots of rain, and unexpected rain really, I found myself caught in the storm without an umbrella since I wasn’t accurately forewarned by the iPhone weather app. They were moments that I needed to embrace is what my friend Alex told me. That’s when I noticed the romance of grey clouds and the accompanying rain in London. The breeze, the pattering alongside the buildings, the view of the city with an umbrella vignette.

It was only the other week that I was forced to wait in a cafe in Green Park for the rain to subside. Constantly checking my phone for the time as I was a bit concerned about making it to a meeting on time. An important meeting where I shouldn’t show up with a raindrop stained dress. I couldn’t do anything about the rain, could I? So I waited, texted my assistant and had him stall the start time a bit. As the music track transitioned there was a brief moment where it was completely quiet, air perfumed with coffee and I listened to the rain fall onto the sidewalk. Simple moments like this are worth getting caught in the rain in London.