By Tim Richardson
This year, all eyes are on July 15 - otherwise known as St
Swithin’s Day. For those who don’t know, July 15 has it’s own nursery rhyme
that is of particular interest in light of the monsoon-like conditions the UK
has experience for the last couple of months.
St.
Swithin's day, if thou dost rain,
For
forty days it will remain.
St.
Swithin's day, if thou be fair,
For
forty days 'twill rain na mair.
Or in other words, if it rains on July 15, it’s gonna rain
for the rest of the summer. If it doesn’t, it’s time to head to the beach.
Quaint superstitious nonsense – yes – but with the weather we’ve had so far it
I will happily cling to the shortest of straws as I get washed away in the
floods.
Which got me thinking. What about this one:
Doctor Foster
went to Glo’cester,
In a shower of
rain;
He stepped in
a puddle,
Right up to
his middle,
And never went
there again.
Wise words, even if this is a child’s nursery
rhyme. Perhaps it could be updated to have a modern day twist. Something along
the lines of…
Hippy Mary went to Glast’bury
In a shower of rain;
She stepped in a puddle
Right up to her middle
And loved it so much she went ‘again, again!’
Ok, so a poet I am not. Here’s the last one. Yes,
it is weather-related but that’s not why I chose it. Nope, it’s a proofing
exercise.
Whether the weather be fine,
Or whether the weather be not,
Whether the weather be cold,
Or whether the weather be hot,
We'll whether the weather
Whatever the weather,
Whether we like it or not!
Or to put it another way, keep dry and carry on.
