Picture this, if you will.
I wake up to my radio alarm which is playing a pop song much to cheery for 6:30am.
It is dark and raining.
It does not get light before I leave the house as it normally does but continues to stay the gloomy darkness of late twilight despite the earliness of the hour. The rain patters slowly but firmly on the windows as I get ready to leave the house. I pull on my knee high flat boots (no loafers today of course), my wintery coat and a very stripy umbrella.
As I step out of my front door, across the porch and half way down the drive so begins a downpouring of torrential proportions. End Of The World type rain with drops so big they hurt when they hit your skin and so heavy cars have to slow almost to a halt as the drivers can't see out of their windscreens. The umbrella whips around in the wind yet keeps my face and most of my hair dry but the rain is now coming down at a 45 degree angle, soaking the few inches of my skirt which peep below my coat and my tights above my boots so they cling to my legs (boots which it turns out do not stand up to puddles the size of ponds oddly enough) .
I swear to myself repeatedly as I walk along (as though this mantra of curses will somehow keep me dry) and fear I am unfortunately overheard by my nextdoor neighbour as he cycles slowly by in a very luminous jacket.
The bus seems to take an age to arrive and by the time it does the elements of me exposed to the weather are thoroughly soaked. I miss my normal train as the traffic is so bad and have to get a later one which is not direct to London so adds another 15 minutes to my journey. I sit down next to the window, peel off my damp layers, lay out my dripping umbrella under my seat, put on my Mp3 player and close my eyes. I manage to doze for most of the journey but wake up about 10 minutes from London at which point an Elbow song from their album Seldom Seen Kid starts to play and just at that moment, the sun emerges from behind the heavy charcoal grey clouds, and reveals to me that behind this curtain of dark there are huge white clouds and bright blue skies. All this I see only for a moment before the curtain is back, the sun disappears and spots of rain reappear, running down in tracks on the window.
Like a character in some corny movie I feel any annoyance at the dreadful weather, the traffic, the still being rather damp and the being later into work than I like, slip quietly away.
Such big weather and such natural beauty made me feel quite small in a way I rather like and Elbow's song made me breathe a breath of calm as it always does. As soon as I step off the train, the hustle and bustle shake me from my pleasing reverie but I am still left with a small bright bubble of happiness inside.
Funny what music can do.
Funny what the beauty of nature can do.
I know exactly what you mean - we had a moment like that at the weekend - I was sat in bed probably about the time you said and watched the rain hammer down and then suddenly it stopped. So much so it made me jump out of bed and look out to see what was going on!
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