How 'bout this weather?

Thursday, 17 June 2010

This phrase more than any other seems to come out of the mouths of countless people at the office these days. Wellington just can't seem to make its mind up lately, is it winter or not? One day it's sunny and the next it's raining - sometimes we go from good to bad in the same day or vice-versa.

Something I always find amusing is how people always talk about the weather when they have nothing much else to say, it's the favoured subject for small-talk - particularly in lifts.

The people who are often most guilty of this are, like me, British. We talk about the weather more than we talk about what to have for lunch and I really don't know why that is!

I know that I'm certainly guilty of being a weather commentator, but if I end up talking to you about the weather, then don't take it personally - it usually means I am having a brain-dead day and am bringing up the weather to either spare you some other kind of insipid rant that's on my mind, or just because I haven't had my morning cup of tea yet!

Equally so, I once heard someone saying that writers will write about the weather when they have nothing else to write about. As such, I decided to get it out of my system now - so no stone is left unturned.

However, it's not just us Brits that complain about the weather. I find that people who have lived in Wellington all their life are often saying things like 'I love this city but I am so sick of the weather'.

As the conversation unfolds, I usually discover that they are about a month or two away from going overseas, and in the words of one of my favourite comedians Danny Bhoy, 'to move to London and live in a cupboard with 12 other Kiwis'.

That's usually the point where I try to tell people they don't realise how lucky they are, but they don't believe me or heed my warnings. Usually, about six months later I get the Facebook wall post from London saying 'okay, you were right, the weather here SUCKS!'.

I'll admit that Wellington has its fair share of southerlies and windy and wet days in winter, but I have never reached that point where I am so sick of the weather that I want to leave. Whenever I meet people in other parts of the country such as Auckland or Christchurch, the first thing they do when I say I live in Wellington is mention the weather and grit their teeth.

Personally, I think the best kept secret about Wellington is that the weather isn't really that bad, it's only bad sometimes. As cliche as it sounds, I truly do believe you just can't beat Wellington on a good day!    

Are you guilty of talking about the weather when your brain isn't in the mood to talk about other things? Do you think Wellington's weather is really that bad, or is it all just a bunch of hype?

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