Ed Said - Weather.....we like it or not

It’s rare in a small town that there’s not an item or two to gossip about, but the subject either praised or cursed is usually the weather. Apart from politics it is probably the only subject discussed at length the world over which we can do nothing about. It cannot be forecast with any great degree of accuracy so we are therefore never fully prepared for any outcome which we may have to endure for any length of time.

We are fortunate to live in a temperate part of the country and have come to accept windy spring weather leading up to Christmas, but we bear this because temperatures are gradually rising and ‘summer is coming.’ However when we have six weeks of summer, holidaymakers are crying for water to maintain their city habits. Property owners glorying in the upside of high summer rental income are then feverishly looking for someone to blame when a dry spell leads to cancellations due to a lack of water.

National headlines told us that farmers were in dire straits to feed their livestock and produce enough income to service their multi-million dollar bank loans. Who are they appealing to for rain? The Minister of Agriculture stroked his chin and declared Northland to be in drought – officially. Which meant what, exactly? When welcome rain came in early March – two sizeable downpours, two weeks apart – they then cried even louder because the warm moist weather promoted facial eczema spores which can badly effect the liver functions of cattle and sheep. What was the man in the street expected to do about this?

Tanks became filled, dams became filled, waterways began to flow merrily again, farms greened up and gardens once again showed new life – the first things to be neglected in coastal sandy soil. But then the rain has continued – some predicted, some not predicted – and this latest deluge a spin-off from the storms which have wreaked havoc across the Tasman.

Much of the summer sporting season simply fizzled out but then early winter sports have also being canned in an effort to protect fields from damage which may not be able to be healed as the season progresses. We often see weather changes coming but rarely imagine the intensity. Then, when a ‘weather bomb’ is forecast and doesn’t live up to expectations, forecasters are criticised for being scaremongers.

Other connotations however involve motor vehicles and people who fail to follow the simple rule of driving within their own ability and taking the weather into consideration. Hoons love fishtailing on a warm, wet bitumen roundabout, generally harmless but sometimes not! If fog envelopes an airport planes simply don’t fly. However if fog envelopes a city it makes not one atom of difference to the traffic flow except to make travel more dangerous – the human element overrules all else.

Weather can also be a significant mood-changer.The weather has been loved and loathed in print and song for hundreds of years. Famous novels such as The Grapes of Wrath, Bleak House and Wuthering Heights chronicle horrific droughts, storms and a deluge of mud through the streets of London.

Songs have a wider mood range from the propect of love with Etta James’ ‘I’m gonna love you come rain or come shine’, John Sebastions ‘You and me and rain on the roof’, and The Cowsill family with ‘The rain, the park and other things’, to lost love with ‘Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone’ and ‘It might as well rain until September’. The Fortunes sang ‘Here comes that rainy day feeling again’. A clear case of Monday-itis. Then we have songs actually encouraging snow for that special Christmas atmosphere.

Creedence Clearwater Revival asked ‘Who’ll stop the rain?’ while Linda Ronstadt told us there’s ‘Gonna be a heatwave’. But the best advice probably came from our own Tim Finn who said ‘Always take the weather with you’. At the end of the day ‘the answer is blowin’ in the wind.’

Just keep dry and think seriously about filling your wood box.

Happy Easter

Rob

Long as I remember, the rain been comin' down.

Clouds of mystery pourin' confusion on the ground.

Good men through the ages tryin' to find the sun.

And I wonder, still I wonder who'll stop the rain.

Creedence Clearwater Revival