Did I say ‘the perfect summer’s day’ in my last blog? How wrong can you be – now look at it! Today the weather is getting its own back for my foolish mistake. It’s pouring! ‘It’s raining, it’s pouring, The old man’s snoring!’ floats into my mind – an old nursery rhyme from my childhood which is linked inseparably for me now with this kind of wet, windy weather. Well, the sunshine was nice while it lasted.
'He bumped his head and went to bed, And couldn't get up in the morning.' We used to sing it in the school playground while playing skipping games. It’s time for the summer holidays. The children have broken up from school. We’re tired and we need a rest. Nowadays we’re all short of sleep and having trouble getting up in the morning! Working hours for most people seem longer than ever and the weather here has been sticky and humid lately, making us sleep restlessly. A friend from Turkey writes that it is too hot there and she misses the Dutch rain! Not me! A gentle shower is one thing and the gardens love it, but today there’s a real gale blowing and the rain is coming down in torrents. But maybe it will clear the air and bring us some relief from the stickiness.
‘Rain, rain, go away. Come again another day.’ Another rhyme from my childhood, proving that the rumour that the English are obsessed about the weather is probably correct. Then there’s poor old Doctor Foster who ‘went to Gloucester (pronounced Gloster) in a shower of rain’. The rain evidently got worse because the rhyme informs us ‘He stepped in a puddle right up to his middle, And never went there again!’ What rubbish we are told when we are little and so gullible!
Let’s finish then with a word or two from e.e. cummings whose world is ‘mud-luscious’ and ‘puddle-wonderful’*! His wonder at the natural world is infectious, even though his use of language is sometimes confusing:
'i thank You God for most this amazingday: for the leaping greenly spirits of treesand a blue true dream of sky; and for everythingwhich is natural which is infinite which is yes'**
which, I guess, has to include the rain too!
* e.e. cummings ‘in Just-’
** e.e. cummings ‘i thank you God for most this amazing’
'He bumped his head and went to bed, And couldn't get up in the morning.' We used to sing it in the school playground while playing skipping games. It’s time for the summer holidays. The children have broken up from school. We’re tired and we need a rest. Nowadays we’re all short of sleep and having trouble getting up in the morning! Working hours for most people seem longer than ever and the weather here has been sticky and humid lately, making us sleep restlessly. A friend from Turkey writes that it is too hot there and she misses the Dutch rain! Not me! A gentle shower is one thing and the gardens love it, but today there’s a real gale blowing and the rain is coming down in torrents. But maybe it will clear the air and bring us some relief from the stickiness.
‘Rain, rain, go away. Come again another day.’ Another rhyme from my childhood, proving that the rumour that the English are obsessed about the weather is probably correct. Then there’s poor old Doctor Foster who ‘went to Gloucester (pronounced Gloster) in a shower of rain’. The rain evidently got worse because the rhyme informs us ‘He stepped in a puddle right up to his middle, And never went there again!’ What rubbish we are told when we are little and so gullible!
Let’s finish then with a word or two from e.e. cummings whose world is ‘mud-luscious’ and ‘puddle-wonderful’*! His wonder at the natural world is infectious, even though his use of language is sometimes confusing:
'i thank You God for most this amazingday: for the leaping greenly spirits of treesand a blue true dream of sky; and for everythingwhich is natural which is infinite which is yes'**
which, I guess, has to include the rain too!
* e.e. cummings ‘in Just-’
** e.e. cummings ‘i thank you God for most this amazing’
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