It was in a Rick Steves video that I heard him say “there’s no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing”. The internet tells me that Sir Ranulph Fiennes was the originator of this quote. Rick Steves makes videos about travel in Europe but his target audience is mostly adult Americans who are inexperienced with travelling—so we’re not his target audience—but he does have some good tips.

I kind of laugh about the inappropriate clothing thing… it makes me think of (somewhat unfairly) the expectation that women should dress up no matter what the occasion, and how some items of clothing are too comfortable and not fancy enough for a woman to wear. It also makes me think of how I used to have an absolute aversion to rain, and now I just do what needs to be done to be prepared for it.

I often made the mistake of not even considering bringing an umbrella with me when there was a chance of rain, and then let it put a downer on my day, such as letting it hinder me from leaving the library at university, or making me run and slip in a puddle and graze both my knees (a thing that actually happened circa 2012), or just making me really grumpy about the fact that it was raining.

It’s just rain, folks. Some water. You might get a little wet. You can also get very wet. 🌧️

When we had torrential rain in Sydney a couple of years ago, I made the silly decision to walk home from the office. I had nothing but a small, flimsy umbrella, and I felt the rain seep into my flyknit sneakers, not because I was stepping in deep puddles, but because the rain was so heavy it slopped straight on top of my shoes and through the fabric. All that really mattered was getting home. At some point I realised that the umbrella wasn’t doing much to keep me dry apart from a small part of my chest. Rain wet my face and all down the front of my legs through my jeans.

After I slowed my hurry to a walk—realising that the pace made no real difference—it dawned on me that it was just rain, and as drenched as I was getting, I may have been getting wet from the rain, I wasn’t very comfortable, but I largely felt safe. And after a few brief moments I realised that you stop caring about how rainy it is, and kind of get used to it.

These days, I usually find that the rain doesn’t bother me too much, as long as I am prepared with an umbrella and some shoes that can stand being a little bit wet.

We have been dealing with some torrential rain and floods in Auckland. The weather has affected the city with some people needing urgent help. 😞 The weather alright this morning, but it just got worse around the time we really needed to get some dinner. We thought we could handle a short ten minute walk, but after just a few minutes the rain was so heavy it landed in our shoes. It didn’t matter how many puddles you avoided—you would just get wet shoes from the rain pouring like buckets of water.

I don’t think anyone could have predicted such extreme weather. We had umbrellas, and even prepared with ponchos, and hiking shoes, but we didn’t wear our hiking shoes because we were just exploring the town. We were prepared for some rain, and to be out in the rain for a bit, but were not prepared for torrential, non-stop rain and flooding.

At some point while we were walking with wet feet, I did feel the same sort of thing, though. What can you do? You can’t wait to get home, but you also kind get just a little bit used to it. ☔️

I’m blogging every day in January 2023. Let me know if you’ll be joining in and trying to blog every day. 😊 The hashtag you can use on social media is #blogeverydamnday.