Talking about the weather

There's a stereotype of British people which says that they're always talking about the weather. I've discovered that this is true. If you stand at the bus stop in Scotland, or meet someone in a shopping centre, they will invariably tell you how cold it us, or comment that it's nice to have a warm day for a change.

I've experienced that this doesn't happen quite so much in other parts of the world: if you live in Cape Town or in the south of Spain, where it's sunny for at least 300 days of the year, the weather's not much of a conversation starter. It's just sunny most of the time.

In recent weeks, though, Spanish people down here on the Costa del Sol seem to be speaking a lot about the weather. Elderly people will tell you that it's been twenty years since they experienced such heavy rains, or young people will say that they don't remember the winter time ever being this cold before.

In many ways, though, I feel quite spoiled to live in this climate. Yes, it can be very cold indoors - especially at night, when a hot water bottle is a welcome relief. And yes, we've had a lot of rainy days lately. But as we move further into January, we're beginning to have some lovely sunny days again and I'm very thankful for that.