I've been at work this week and I noticed that the majority of conversations I participated in began and ended with us making our own assessment of the days weather. It's strange, how did our conversation evolve to such a point, whereby the weather became the predominant leading topic?
I first became aware of the nations fondness for this topic when I reached 25. I quickly noticed we went from discussing my studies, to debating whether or not we'd have rain that day. I found myself having to cultivate some phrases, I could use to help me steer my way through this new social interaction I would soon have to become accustomed.
Within a matter of years, I became an expert at steering my way through the conversations like I had a built in sat nav, collecting new phrases along the way. It was like being in my own video game and the villain was the big black weather cloud.
I'm aware there is a common misconception that British people love complaining about the weather, while there may be a sliver of truth to that. I don't think that's the whole story. Over the years, I suspect there's more to it and people talk about the weather for loads of reasons. I'm going to talk about a few of them.
One reason is because of a job, you can be forgiven for thinking that I am referring to actual weathermen. In this case, the people that best demonstrate my point are taxi drivers. Now, I've spent half my life in and out of taxis and in that time I've had lots (and I mean lots) of conversations with taxi drivers about the weather. Sometimes it's been less conversation, more they talk and I listen and response accordingly, while clearing the sleep from my eyes.
However, I reckon if your weekly income was dependent on the weather you'd expect to develop an almost obsessive interest in weather patterns and rain clouds. In fact, I'd go as far as saying that good local knowledge of the area, as well as an in depth knowledge of the weather forecast, are the two key ingredients that make a taxi driver a successful one.
I recently asked my current taxi driver - What climate is good for taxing? Unsurprisingly, he immediately said clear and sunny weather, he then shocked me by saying windy and almost gale force winds. When I asked him why windy weather, he explained that when it's extremely windy people often deem it too dangerous to use their own cars but not bad enough to prevent them from carrying out their appointments. It is then that the services of a taxi driver are called upon. So, as you can see it quite literally pays for taxi drivers to talk about the weather.
The next reason, is using a conversation as a means to talk about things relating to themselves. I know I'm guilty of doing this on occasion. 'I hope it stays nice for my weekend in London' or 'It was so hot, I got sun burnt whilst walking in the Lake District'. These phrases are generally used to nurture the conversation so it suddenly, and more often than not unintentionally, becomes one sided. I know I can come away thinking: that ended up very 'me-centric' or maybe even the other way around, coming away thinking: 'Did I actually get chance to say anything during that conversation?'.
I don't think this is a habit done deliberately. I just think life is so busy, when we do get the chance to have a conversation, people can get over excited about sharing their news, that it can descend into who can get their news in first. This is never really an issue for me because, I'd never consider my news or stories to be headline stuff, so often I'm happy to sit patiently and wait my turn.
However, most of the time a conversation about the weather, acting as an indicator to the other people that your happy to have a conversation, almost like a verbal invitation. Then, once the weather pleasantries have been exchanged the conversation can go anywhere, from what was on tv last night, the latest books being read, funny anecdotes and local town gossip. Then the conversation would end with more chat about the weather, as signal to bring the conversation to end, like tying it off in a big bow.
Whatever the reasons, at least it encourages people to have a conversation. In a time of emails, text messages and snapchat, It's comforting to know that a simple chat about the weather is still considered an important aspect of social interaction.
No comments:
Post a Comment