Rain, grumpy teenagers and inconvenient tortoises

Outside the cars swish through the puddles The familiar sound of morning! It seems like a long time since since a day began with warm sunshine pouring through the window!  One of my German friends tells me that the English are obsessed with the weather.  I always tell her that is just stereotyping, but on reflection, I think it might be true. The first thing my husband ( Ninesh ) does every morning is check the weather forecast on his computer, even though all he will be doing for most of the day is sitting in an office.  At least he will know what "shade of grey," to expect from his window!
 Last year we spent Christmas in Sri Lanka with Ninesh's family. His mum and dad have lived in England for a long time now but something about  the warmth of the sunshine, the friendliness of the smiles, the brightness of the colours, seemed to bring his dad back to life. It is as though, in England,  his colours are hidden and it  took the sunshine and the sense of  truly belonging, for the bud, closed up inside him for so long, to unfurl.  So perhaps we are right to be obsessed with the weather.  Perhaps it is an intricate part of what defines us.  Perhaps if we English woke to sunshine every day we would feel lost and confused- not sure that I would mind though!

Just woken up my son, who told me to " go away," said good morning to my daughter who hasn't slept a wink I needn't think, and fallen over the tortoise who always seems to fall asleep in the middle of the living room floor. Rain, grumpy teenagers and inconvenient tortoises.  Think I will need steel- toed wellies and armour to walk through today.