Clouds & a smidgen of sunshine

I picked a really good day to blog about London weather.

Because guess what?

I saw the sun today!!!!

YAY!!!

Yes, naïve New Yorker who complains constantly about the weather, you live in a fantasyland of bright sunshine.

The only parallel between New York and London weather is the fact that everyone complains about the weather. But, in London, they complain that it’s cold when it’s a balmy 45 degrees, AND they complain when it’s cloudy and rainy, but it’s ALWAYS cloudy and rainy.

Except today. Today I saw the sun – briefly, yes – but at least I won’t develop rickets. (Process that Vitamin D sunshine!)

Maybe, I should elaborate – seeing the sun means that I could see the sun THROUGH the cloud clover. I never had an uninterrupted view. But I’ll take a slightly veiled sun over a completely obliterated one any day, thank you very much.

And now – on to the forecast. BBC weather has four options for any given day: white cloud, grey cloud, rainy intervals, or sunny intervals.

Yes, that’s right – they pretty much all mean cloudy. And yes, London is a city with such little variation in the dreariness of their climate that cloud cover has distinct types. What, might you ask, is the difference between white and grey cloud? As far as I can tell, it’s a difference in imagination. Kind of like a mirage. Oh, what’s that, a white cloud? What a lovely change, it’s been so grey!

In closing – I would like to say that the day Chris and I brilliantly choose to wander around the city doing touristy things - like visiting the beautiful but imposing Buckingham palace - was a day in which the BBC weatherman cheerily announced there would be sunny intervals. And sure enough, outside our hotel window that morning before we headed out, the sun was indeed shining!

And so it was, that ignoring my mother’s advice to ALWAYS CARRY AN UMBRELLA IN LONDON AT ALL TIMES, I decidedly rejected said sage counsel and left without one. We arrived at Buckingham Palace in the pouring rain, did a portion of our planned walk through Hyde Park’s lovingly maintained and flowering (even in February) gardens in the rain, before giving up and retreating to the indoor amusement park that is Harrod’s Department store. (which definitely deserves a post all it's own.)

Anyway, just in case you missed my point, the weatherman said sunny intervals, and it poured. Loooovely.

But don’t let the weather scare you off from visiting us – it’s still almost tropically warm and humid compared to New York and New England! And it's supposed to be sunnier in the summer - and never too hot! London weather - like most things British I am finding - is moderate.

And speaking of visiting…. Raise a glass to our new, small 2-bed apartment in Belsize Park! More on our new home tomorrow.

Cheers!