CULTURE CORNER: The notoriously inclement British weather and British habits!

I am sure you all have noticed how much the weather can affect your mood. There are days you feel totally grumpy just because the weather is gloomy and dull. Whereas when the sun shines, you feel happy and joyful even on busy days! If you think about that, then it’ll be much easier to understand why Brits look so silent and reserved. It’ll be much easier to understand why they sit at parks to sunbathe till they get sunburnt!

After many years of constant interaction with British people through various projects and events, I didn’t expect to find myself surprised by typical British attitudes and habits when I actually moved to Britain for work. But I was wrong!

The day of my arrival in Edinburgh was sunny and quite hot. It was 14:00 pm, I was getting sweaty and desperately looking for some shade to rest when I passed by a café patio. The place was full of people having their coffee or lunch in the sun, without umbrellas or something to protect them from the heat. I must admit that it did strike me as odd! To me – not a big fan of sunbathing anyway – having lunch while sweating and getting sunburn still feels like a kind of torture. After a month though, I could see why they all went crazy as soon as a ray of sunshine came out!

From the 30 days of the month the weather was sunny just 3 times, for a couple of hours. The rest of the days were dull, rainy and gray and it was mid-June! It then made sense. When seeing the sun is such a luxury, people want to make the most out of it, even if they have to be as red as a lobster for the rest of the week.

The climate in the UK is very mild and doesn’t share the same extremes as in the rest of Europe. However, the British weather is notoriously known for being extremely unpredictable.  It can be sunny and warm in the morning, and cold and cloudy later in the day, while you might experience light (or sometimes heavier) showers quite often. The coldest months are December to February and the warmest are usually July and August. The definition of warm and cold can vary greatly though, depending on which country you come from. The further North you go,  the temperature might not be above 17 degrees in the summer months.

So, in order to deal with the inclement British weather be prepared to leave your open toed shoes at home, always carry an umbrella and sometimes wear winter clothes in the summer.

Another thing which is typically British is the obsession with the weather. 
"When two Englishmen meet, their first talk is of the weather," wrote Dr Samuel Johnson. Three centuries later, this observation still appeals to stereotypical British behaviour. According to a recent study, over a quarter of the population in the UK use the weather as an ice-breaker, over half of Brits talk about the weather at least once every 6 hours and 70% check the weather forecast at least once a day.

The key for this obsession lies one more time in the weather’s unpredictability. But this weather is also responsible for amazing images of the landscape like the following one taken by the landscape photographer Kris Dutson in Dorset.

Written by Anna, e-teachme teacher