Rainy Days

Some places have monsoons, others have rainy seasons, but nowhere does your bog-standard rainy day quite like Britain.

Weirdly, rainy days were one of the things I really missed in Japan. Not because it didn't rain there (although on balance there was probably more snow than rain) in fact it probably had more to do with having a car and driving everywhere, and there not being many places to walk where I was.

It's not easy to represent - photos of it just look, well, damp, - it's more of a sense I have from having lived here so long before. It's something to do with the trees and how alive everything smells. The way it can not quite rain for hours if you're lugging an umbrella around, but the one time you forget it you get soaked to the skin. It can go on for whole days, or even several days in a row.

For me, rainy days mean potential, progress, peace. People walk about in the rain, but most of them are on their way to somewhere, they walk with purpose, they have things to do, places to be. Particularly because the last time I lived here I was at uni (note the weirdness of this being the first time I've had a "normal" life here - job, commute, weekends, etc) walking in the rain reminds me of trips from wet halls to wet libraries, and back again across wet courtyards to wet supervisions in old wet professors' rooms. Especially because these days are a symbol of Autumn, that time when you start afresh with a new notepad and a renewed determination to succeed, when studying is so much easier because your room or the library is cosy and you can look out on the dull wetness outside.

I have really missed days like this, and plan on making the most of them - might even invest in some funky wellies! - and you know the best thing?! It's only August!! Even though today seems like October, it's still 2 months till October, then there's November, and then rainy-days with Christmas lights... it only gets better from here...