If there is one thing we are good at in England, it is talking about the weather.
Setting off from home I took a look outside and decided to leave the coat and go in a T-Shirt.
While trying to go about my business in town – the usual trip to the bank and then to the post office – Mother Nature decided to make mine and a number of shoppers’ lives hell.
With one eye on the clock I was about to head back to the car before I got a ticket off the bloke who was slapping them on windscreens in Saturday Market like they were post-it notes.
Then, without notice, the heavens opened up and it rained, not just a shower but by the bucketload. Water was pouring from the skies above so fiercely that it was hard to see more than a few feet in front of myself.
Taking shelter in Kubana on Saturday Market I watched as people scrabbled for cover while wondering how on earth I was going to get back to the car, let alone complete my jobs in town.
While in Kubana, a customer who was enjoying a coffee while watching the spectacle unfold outside turned to me and said:
“I have just been through this storm in Leven, it was so bad I had to pull my car over. When I looked in my mirror, plenty of motorists had also pulled over, thinking they would give it ten minutes and it will be gone.”
The only thing I was concerned about at this point was getting a parking ticket; I could not see East Riding of Yorkshire Council accepting rain as an excuse so you can imagine my delight when I looked up to see the traffic warden stood under Market Cross sheltering from the rain.
I had my camera with me so I thought I would take a few snaps. Ali Tekce, the owner of Kubana, offered to hold a brolly for me, offering to take the rain in order for me to keep dry.
Leaning out of his door I saw familiar face pressed up against a shop sheltering from the rain. It was Derek Schultz, a local photographer who, despite what was happening, had a grin on his face.
We both made a dash for Market Cross and I asked what he was doing in town. His answer was priceless.
He had come into town to have lunch with his wife who, when it started raining, took his brolly, leaving him to face the elements.
So, stood under Market Cross with a bunch of strangers and one nervous looking dog with only half of my jobs complete, my car parked on borrowed time and water falling from the skies all I could hear myself saying was ‘A Typical British Summer.’
