Silver linings

Rainy days, when they descend in clotted clumps of rainy weeks, can get you down. My sister thinks I made up SAD - Seasonal Affective Disorder - but it's a real thing. Wikipedia says so.

But in a determined effort to stop being a whiny little bitch about the handful of feral days that blight Sydney's generally delightful weather, there are good things about rain, and I am going to list them now:

1. Rain that comes after a long time, particularly in dry Queensland towns, has a really special smell as it hits the dust. It smells of novelty and new life and makes a tiny sizzle as it hits hot asphalt.

2. You can use lots of naff phrases in describing it: principally "raining cats and dogs". But also: "pissing down", "bucketing", "teeming", etc

3. "Wet lunch" - which, with (immature) adult hindsight sounds vaguely dirty - at school, when it's too wet to eat outside and so everyone makes as much noise and mess as possible while confined to classrooms. I had forgotten about this concept until a teacher friend mentioned in a Facebook status how much she hates it. See also: dull sporting events cancelled due to rain. Win!

4. Increased probability of people falling over ("the Funniest Home Videos effect").

5. Rain creates puddles to ride your bike through - making that magical zinging sound, and possibly dampening pedestrians to hilarious effect.

6. Rain creates rainbows.

7. Singin' In The Rain is probably the best musical of all time. And rain has also inspired many ace songs: "See The Sky About To Rain" by Neil Young, "Rain, Hail, Shine" by the Icecream Hands, "Dry The Rain" by The Beta Band, "Dreams" by Fleetwood Mac, "Famous Blue Raincoat" by Leonard Cohen, "Rainy Day Man" by James Taylor and any of Bob Dylan's "Rainy Day Women" songs. There are millions of others - tell me your favourites in the comments! - but I choose not to include Travis on this list.

8. Really heavy rain on the office roof sounds like the applause of a distant crowd. So hopefully I can take my final bow at my desk before State Of Origin kicks off....