Thanks Mari! I am partly washed. MY USB cable that connects me to the internet is flaking out - so it looks like I will also be heading to the store... on the bus. Good news is I've already started getting dressed!
Oh I know what you mean ... I lived in that general neck of the woods for most of my life. I once ended up with about 5 umbrellas in my car (not on purpose, just by virtue of carrying them there out of possible or actual need, and then not removing them). Somebody from the office saw the "stash" and got a big kick out of it. Asked me what the heck I was doing with them and got an even bigger kick out of the explanation. They couldn't get it. I should have just shut up.

I also carried at least one towel - not because I had read The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, but because I found I had genuine need of one on multiple occasions... Such as getting drenched in a three second dash from office to car (due to my office umbrella(s) having inadvertently ended up in the car ), then needing to to sit my wet self on the dry upholstery to drive home. Or wearing really nice shoes and, in order to preserve them, running barefoot to the car, and having to dry off the feet to drive safely.

Yes, I suppose there are Wellington's but I was always more for the barefoot thing. I suppose I should count myself lucky never to have been hit by lightning in those whereabouts! Not like it was lacking!

Here, I sometimes see umbrellas I like at markets and such, but relucantly pass them by. Even when it "pours" by local standards, it is but a drizzle to me and unworthy of an umbrella, all the more unworthy of the hassle of hanging onto one through crowded public trans in addition to all of one's usual belongings, purchases, etc.. Having a car in which to keep these things. I seriously think people here would drown in a subtropical rain "shower." They have never seen drops as big as one's thumb... I think some would certainly faint, if not drown in that kind of rain.

For my current whereabouts, I do well with a waterproof hooded jacket and waterproofed shoes or boots for rain here, as well as clothes which "hold" their form. (Jk or not, some clothes certainly do dry out in a very unbecoming way! )

Only once, in the decade I've been away (here), have I caught a drenching here. There was a 30 second anomalous dumping as I was crossing a busy street to catch a tram - no turning back. It was during late spring or early autumn... cool enough to be uncomfortable when wet, and the water itself was COLD... Yuck! 1.5 hour commute home with cold outside as evening rolled in, wet from waist down because my jeans had got soaked and dripped down INTO my boots! 'Can't say an umbrella would have helped much in that case, though.

Right... time for.... OMG I was going to say lunch but it's almost time for LOST! (I missed it Friday evening - this is the repeat for that).

~ waves ~