You're not made of sugar

I'm writing this on the 27th December 2023, Boxing Day's Boxing Day, as Storm Gerrit hits the UK. I got pretty wet this morning walking the dog (she loved it) and on days like this it is easy to get a little downbeat about the UK weather; I mean, it's always raining isn't it?Certainly when it comes to discussions around active travel and modal shift (getting folk out of their cars and onto alternative modes of transport) the UK weather is usually somewhere near the top of any list of reasons why it will never happen in the UK (also on the list are hills, some people can't ride a bike, and something about transporting a fridge, a 3 piece suite and a family of elephants).Those of us regularly using a bike for transport, on the school run, the daily commute or doing the shopping, are certainly aware of the changing seasons, as we dig out the rain jacket and gloves, but is it really that bad? Thinking about my own commute, it doesn’t seem like I get caught in the rain that often. At this time of year I’ve usually got spare clothes at work, and we’ve got the facility to dry a jacket and gloves in the office, but from memory I don’t use it very often.Memories aren’t much use for this sort of thing though, so intrigued by my own perceptions in 2019 I started my own detailed scientific research to create an extensive data set visualised in a state of the art graphic: The Soggyometer.I cycle to work most days from Worcester to Grimley, so, give or take, 10 commutes and about five hours on the bike per week. I don't pay much attention to the weather forecast (although named storms are quite exciting), and commute by bike regardless of how grey the sky looks. Each journey was categorised by my state on arrival, either soaked (where the gosh darn are my spare jeans?), damp (rained a bit or some drizzle, but I'm not getting changed), or dry (dry). I’ll report on the results later.So this got my mind working. I think it rains quite a lot, but I don’t often seem to get caught in the rain when cycling. Am I lucky? Am I forgetful? If it is raining, do I wait for it to stop raining before going out?Maybe it’s because when we’re sat inside and it’s grey and looks rainy outside, we assume it’s raining, but sometimes it isn’t, or when we’re in a car with the wipers on it’s logged mentally as raining, but if you’re walking or cycling you’d barely notice it.Certainly the weather in the UK is changeable, so maybe if it rains a bit in the morning we then assume it’s been wet all day. Or are too many of us a slave to the forecasts now available on our mobile devices? What does 100 per cent rain mean anyway?So the results: of 1624 commutes I only got soaked on 1.6% per cent of journeys. That's less than once per month. and a total of 94.1% dry.It really doesn't rain that much.I’m happy with those odds, and so I get all the benefits of some gentle exercise every day safe in knowledge I might encounter some precipitation once a fortnight. Certainly not enough of a barrier to stop me cycling. In the scheme of things, it’s only a bit of rain.The Dutch have a lovely saying when contemplating going outside in the rain, which I believe applies equally to the population of the UK: Jij bent niet van suiker gemaakt - You're not made of sugar.