Thursday, August 25, 2011

The Weatherman

This morning I stepped out to go to the university and realised it was a little dark and the sky was grey. Is it the white cloud or will it rain? Oh shit I forgot to check the weather forecast... The first lesson I learnt when I came to London was – Always check the weather before leaving.
Perhaps the only unpredictable thing in London is the weather.  I was least bothered about the weather in Mumbai as practically we have only two seasons – summer and rainy.  Winter season is a distant cousin who very rarely visits Mumbai. My most concern to know the weather was during monsoon just to know if there is any water logging or heavy rains are expected. Our metropolitan department was infamously famous for inaccurate predictions so these updates were also taken with a pinch of salt. Later the weather reporters clad in corporate suits explaining wind directions on private news channels also failed to get my attention.

In London BBC is my weatherman. I can check weather for London, Kingston and even according to the postcode. I am leaving at 9 am but it’s going to rain at 16.00 and temperature drops at 22.00.  Along with my travel the five day weather forecast helps me to manage my laundry routine.  My friend casually asks – is it a good day to wash clothes? Me – Yes it’s going to be sunny for the next two days.  Or weather forecast could help to decide what to wear. If it was not for London, I would not have paid attention to the wind speed. Once my friend said its sunny today with temperature about 10 degrees. I asked her to check the wind speed. Reason? To know if I need to carry a jacket. She was surprised is when I told her if the wind speed is above 7 mph means it could be breezy. That was my observation. I love to drench in the Mumbai rain, watch splashing waves along the sea shore. But in London, rains, cold weather and wind is a lethal combination.  The wind cheater I brought from Mumbai is going back home as I need a rain coat suitable for the London rain.
This new knowledge has taught me a different lingo – white cloud, sunny intervals, light rain, heavy rain, snow, drizzle. It was a sunny day; I was trying my best to cope with the market research class when suddenly it started thundering followed by heavy rains. Our Greek professor in his own style said "You know guyssss there is a famous saying in London You don’t like the weather? Wait a minute".  


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