Weather.

I shouldn't ever complain about English weather. I have no right to. When coming from two of three states where you have two seasons: Summer and Not Summer, actually experiencing seasonal change should be relished.

On Thursday walking to an early pub lunch one of my colleagues bemoaned the weather. "Oh, it's that might-rain weather. I hate that." I, of course, can think of the anywhere from 3-7pm daily shower and rain so hard you can't see an inch in front of you. "This isn't bad! I had to work the DAY after a hurricane at a water park, that was bad." And I lived 10 days without power, and I resided in a flooded city, and... and... and...

England has some rough winds and overcast days that stretch on a bit longer than they should. But, then again, they are an island. They have snow sometimes, and rarely but occasionally, warm sunny days. I did notice not too long ago that I was becoming paler than normal, and that the area where my running top used to leave light tan lines is gone. I recall mentioning to my best friend how his hair seemed darker. It was never darker, he said, he just doesn't get much in the way of sun when he goes out.

But you can go out without first not checking if this is an 'Ozone Warning' day. For those not in the know, an 'Ozone Warning' means that there is a pretty good chance that if you were to die of heat exhaustion, or fancy that opportunity, now is your chance to take it. There is also that whole knowledge that you can go out in England at nearly any time, where in my home states, if the sun is up then you may need to think about it. You also may want to consider the purchase of a vat of DEET, which is the substance you bathe in in order to ward off the numerous flying insects. (Did I mention Oxford has a lot of birds? I really like them because they eat the bugs, thank you.) I've had a few bee problems here, but that is because they were wandering around flowers, which bloom here, rather than wither and die.

What this all really points to is that for the past two days I've been grumbling about the weather. The almost-rain and windy weather. I've had to keep my winter jacket out, and realized that the pictures I've been posting feature this jacket almost exclusively. But nonetheless, I went out. I wandered about. I didn't have to hose myself with sunscreen and DEET and make sure my water was near and that the Ozone Warning would fry me to pieces. So I will take almost-rain thank you. And cold, and windy. Yes, I will take it and I will relish it.