The English and the weather

The weather in England explains much about the English. The umbrella is carried even if it does not rain, for good luck with the weather. The well-dressed man-about-town in England always carries his umbrella tightly rolled. If it rains he takes a taxi in which he finds his refuge¹, with his umbrella still tightly rolled. To many English people the word "weather" means "good weather". Seaside landladies say, during a season of rain: "Not having much weather, are we?"

The weather in England, wet, dry, hot, cold, tropical or arctic, is the conversational topic for all classes of English society. The weather has given a start for many of the largest English manufacturing business. Apart from umbrellas, there is an increasing demand for burberries, plastic coverings, gumboots etc.

The uncertainty of the weather has made the English patient, enduring and wary. Because of its geographical position in a deep river valley London is occasionally enveloped by unusually thick fog. The worst of these fogs began on the 4th of December, 1952 and there was a similar one in December, 1962. The streets near the centre of London were jammed with buses crawling along at two miles per hour. People who usually travelled by road decided to take the underground. People caught in the fog literally felt their way with one hand along the walls of buildings, holding the other out before them to avoid colliding with other people.

At Covent Garden Theatre a performance of La Traviata had to be abandoned after the first act because so much fog had penetrated into the building that the audience could no longer see the singers clearly. It was a terrible fog that caused the death of some 4,000 people in London.

As a matter of fact, this "deadly" kind of fog is called by Londoners "smog". It is the kind of fog you get only in towns — particularly in the industrial areas. It is a mixture of smoke and fog together, and it is dangerous and deadly espe­cially for people who are suffering from any kind of respiratory troubles. In the big towns and cities you get very much smoke, it is more concentrated because it doesn't come from household chimneys only, but from all the factories too. Even ordinary fog is pretty nasty.

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