Some seven days into my epic, 44 UK bookshops-trip, I think I have finally got the hang of Brittish weather conversations. The secret is to open with a smile, a nod and a simple “good evening”/”good morning”/tentative “hello” and then wait for them  to initiate it. I failed to grasp this important point in London. If you open the conversation yourself, with a remark about the rain or the snow, you very much risk sounding like a foreigner critizing their weather. If you wait for them to say something about it, you seem like a visitor with a remarkable insight into the Brittish weather by simply agreeing with everything they say.

“Horrible weather, isn’t it”
“Yes, but at least yesterday was lovely.”
“A bit cold though, but you’re right, sunshine is better than rain even if it is a bit chilly.”
“Quite so.”
“They say it might snow today.”
“Yes, that does seem likely.”

“Great day for it, isn’t it?”
“Yes, so lovely to get to see the sun. In February, too.”
“Almost forgotten it existed, eh, right, love?”

“Raining again, eh?”
“Yes, I really should have gotten an umbrella.”
“Ha, not from here, are you?”

One man even went so far as to show me the weather forecast on his phone, confirming the likelihood of snow, which I think shows that I’m making great progess in my conversations about the weather.