Weather, Madness, and Seeking Moderation: The "summer breeze makes me feel fine..."

"It is, of course, a British tradition to moan about the weather as a conversational gambit" 

-- Comment is Free (Ian Vince, 24 May 2012, The Guardian)

Summer Smog in the city

Yes, the summer season has arrived and, this year, without much of a transition period from spring (in Toronto, at least). Summer weather in south-western Ontario in recent memory has meant at least 2-3 months of heat & humidity. It is the latter that I cannot bear. Like Mr. Vince, I cannot abide by hot weather: my fair skin burns in the sun (but this means I have permission to wear an obnoxiously wide brimmed hat); if you're a woman and you wear make-up, it melts; and the weather seems to encourage everyone to wear open-toed shoes (i refuse to believe that flip-flops are comfortable!) and, as Mr. Vince remarks, to eat/ drink outside. In my region of Canada, there is usually at least one week during which UV levels are dangerously high (don't leave home without your SPF 1000 ("factor" for the Brits) if you don't want to burst into flames) and the air is as thick as cheese ... except it's not cheese. It's smog. This latest Perrier commercial seems to get it right. That's right, for all of our beautiful white crisp winters there are parts of Canada that can be rather unpleasant from June - August. This year, we've already had 2 days in June where smog warnings were issued! I can't wait for August. And, when we've had rain, they've been downpours.

So, why is complaining about the weather seen as uniquely a "British tradition." I had never come across this notion that the Brits had any monopoly over complaining about the weather. What exactly about British summers conjures these expressions of dissatisfaction? Or, is this about complaining as a characteristic of British culture more generally. "Wahhh! I don't care about the Royal Wedding!" "Ugh, who cares about the Olympics!" "Hmph. Is David Cameron STILL PM?!" Perhaps @IdleHistorian, living on a more temperate side of the continent, could shed some light on the matter. 

@SloaneScholar1

Jonas Hanway (The First Englishman Who
Ever Carried an Umbrella)

As I write this, Vancouver is on track for the coldest June on record, and one hears tales that England (after the early spring threat of drought and attendant hosepipe bans) may experience its wettest recorded June.  In both locales the press joins eagerly in the hand-wringing, the longing for patio lunches and days at the beach which are just not to be. (I have written before on how one should not force the issue of al fresco dining.) Instead of thrilling to the prospect of mild days and tea-drinking weather (as does the Idle Historian and my colleague SloaneScholar1 in hot, humid Ontario), they seem more intent to whinge about what is lacking.

I well understand the hankering for the temperate since, as alluded to already, I reside on the "wet Coast" of British Columbia. The "British" in our name is quite appropriate, as our weather tends to approximate the weather in the UK more so than in any other part of Canada (with slightly colder winters, more rainfall by a factor around 4X, and a more predictably dry and mild July-September). Like the Brits we moan constantly about the rain (though resolutely dress for it, fashion notwithstanding) but exult in the mildness. We also suffer greatly if the temperature drops below 5C or wilt like delicate orchids if it rises much above 25C (the average daytime summer temperature where I live). Such weather, I believe, produces a particular way of being. A desperate love of the temperate (the "reasonable," as it were), informs our entire approach to life.

Racegoers in York (UK), clearly unwilling to be deterred by
the forecast for perhaps a once-in50-years June rainstorm.
Story from the Daily Mail.

Talking about the weather is a particularly British trait, which Canadians certainly have inherited. It provides an easy topic of conversation, but underlying it is perhaps an innate sense of dissatisfaction that impels us to strive and seek change. For example, Vancouver is one of the most beautiful and livable cities within a most appealing and world-respected country, but our local media is always full of complaints about how things have gone wrong and how they could be better. We want things to be perfect -- to have perpetual sun-dappled, warm and happy days. If we cannot bring ourselves to truly accept something as inevitable as the weather, it is certainly the sign of a people unresigned to fate. If things are not this way we wish to carry on regardless. I think this trait is reflected throughout the history of Anglo-Saxon nations. We do not wish to give up our decided course of action or our ideals, no matter how unpropitious the weather omens. This stubbornness applies in most circumstances -- whether at home or abroad (i.e. the famous dictum "Mad Dogs and Englishmen go out in the mid-day sun"). So it has been since the days of the British Empire and so, it appears, shall it continue.


@idlehistorian