9 January 2018 – And I am out walking. Not despite the rain, but because of it. I am inspired by Melissa Harrison’s book Rain (Four Walks in English Weather), the gift of very dear, and very perceptive, friends.
Don’t sulk at what rain subtracts from your walk, is the message: celebrate, instead, what it contributes.
I’m in the right city for that! Rain is at the heart of Vancouver’s self-image.
I am not en pointe; I am en rain boot. My umbrella is not flung gloriously back & up; it is snugged firmly down around my ears.
Droplets dance on the clear plastic …
and, out there beyond my protected head, shine every plant leaf to brilliance.
I’ve noticed before: rain makes colours pop.
A beacon of light spills across the VGH (Vancouver General Hospital) parking lot. It illuminates the eddies of water sluicing their way to sewer grates.
Chrome yellow & white in that image; here turquoise & white, punched out against all that shiny black.
Water beads dance on the metal curves of this bench …
and pick out the lines of these tree branches.
(Yes, well, all very magic — but let us also sober up long enough to notice the amount of moss on the roof. I’m glad it’s not my roof.)
Every shop with its umbrella stand at the door. So handy! Stash the brolly beneath, while you check out the bright red rain boots above.
“Rain City Dance,” I decide, applies to more than one local studio. We and our umbrellas, we are all part of the dance.
Usually as members of the corps de ballet …
but, sometimes, at just the right moment on just the right street corner …
as prima ballerina.
morselsandscraps
/ 9 January 2018I love it!! You have photographed things you wouldn’t’ve noticed in the dry, and your commentary as always is inimitable. It’s good to have rain rehabilitated. My only problem rain walking (not lithe enough for dancing!) is the lack of windscreen wipers on my specs: on, I can’t see through raindrops and rainsmears and foggedupedness; off, I can’t see through blindness.
icelandpenny
/ 9 January 2018Hence my love affair with my clear plastic, dome-shaped umbrella — I literally pull it over my head, far enough down to be level with the bottom of my ears, and hey presto, I don’t need windshield wipers on my glasses.
morselsandscraps
/ 14 January 2018I’m off to source one.
icelandpenny
/ 14 January 2018good luck!
simpletravelourway
/ 9 January 2018What a wonderful thought – to give in to the wet drops coming down and appreciate all that a rain brings to a walk. You are so right about the more vibrant colors. OK – we’ll start now and see if we can change a life long grousing about rainy days into a more cheerful and appreciative attitude.
Jim
/ 10 January 2018I love your clear umbrella! What a great idea. I hope you’ve got some good wellies!
Rio
/ 10 January 2018Red boots! I think that was a secret desire of mine as a child! Great post. We’ve got rain today here. I doubt I will muster as much enthusiasm.
Richard Schulte
/ 10 January 2018Love it!