I remember a long time ago, when I was sitting by the campfire together with a lot of friends. It was raining and we were still happy since the fire kept us warm. We sang a lot of nice and warming songs and among them was a canadian song that one of the participants knew from her time in Canada. It was said to be of indian origin. Of course I don’t know whether that’s true or not, since it’s so long ago, but the song was like a mantra, a short melody one would repeat over and over in order to scare the rain off… The very simple lyrics is still there in my head every rainy day, such as today: ”Rain, rain, go away, come again another day!”

I’ve been writing about rain here today, but most of the memories I shared was very Swedish and also very connected to typical Swedish things to do during summer. I do however want to contribute with two memories from abroad. One is from Britain and one is from the US.

The British memory is not just ”a memory” but rather a long long long MONTH… I visited Britain during fall the yearof  2000. I was pregnant with my second daughter and a bit nauseous because of that. On top of my feeling of nausea, I stayed in a very strange Bed & Breakfast where the landlady was a true pain… She forced me and my friend Eva to stay outdoors for certain hours and also didn’t offer any help to dry our clothes. Now… who cares? If it had been a lovely New England fall with colourful maples and crisp air and sunshine, I wouldn’t care anyway… Now, however, it was for sure OLD England with all that it takes…so it poured for a month… At home, before I left, I had bought a strange kind of rain cap, a really cheap one, since I didn’t anticipate any rain… I tend to think that if I plan for sunshine, there WILL be sunshine… Obviously my plans aren’t always heard…

The whole month I didn’t get my clothes completely dry. Why? Because the landlady didn’t think it was cold enough to put any heat on yet… I didn’t bring my wellingtons from Sweden, but rather walked around in very wet sneakers. My feet were a complete ”wrinkle” when I finally returned to Sweden. I understand why Britons tend to joke about the weather. It may be their only chance to cope. I’m happy I live in a country where fall season MIGHT conclude some SUNSHINE, too…

The US memory is from the time to depart from my dear friends the Groffs in the summer of 2004. At the time when we decided to go to the airport in Philly the sky opened and I bet ALL that summer’s rain fell on the road where we drove… My flight was delayed with a couple of hours and I remember I was a little bit scared of flying. Being in the airport for two extra hours wasn’t that nice, but luckily the flight went well and I got back home to the sunny country of Sweden again. We hardly ever have any rain, nudge,nudge… Today is an exception…

Rain, rain go away, come again another day…