If you plan on sharing a conversation with anyone in England, you better be prepared to discuss the weather. Without fail, it will be the second thing talked about regardless of the encounter you find yourself in. For example:
“You alright?” (Equivalent to ‘how are you doing’ often said without the ‘You’.)
“Ya, excellent|lovely|not bad.” (excellent is heavily used here and on par with ‘like’)
“So how ’bout that weather?|What crap weather.|Beautiful day we are having.|Absolutely pissing down.|…” (many more but all roughly the same)
The other person will usually take a long hard look into the sky, and then agree with the given conclusion.
Last night, apparently there was one of the most visible meteor showers of the year in the northern hemisphere. I was meandering down a very dark lane blasting my iPod to “The great gig in the sky” and gazing upwards into the lightly misting rain wishing the cloud cover would move. It got me thinking…