During the past two weeks, the weather had been marvellous in the area I live in. The sun had been shining almost constantly and the temperature was nice and summery, but not too sweaty or burning. My favourite weather for strolls in the park, drinks in outdoor cafes and a general happy mood. It was also the best possible weather for my surprise weekend away for Matt and me that I had planned months ago to take place last weekend. I’m sure you can imagine how annoyed I was by the weather forecaster telling me that the weekend would suffer under clouds, a significant temperature drop and even a bit of rain.
It’s the biggest possible set back for someone like me and my control freakish nature. No matter how hard we try all to arrange things immaculately; no one will ever really know what the weather will do.
Of course my little weekend isn’t the best example of the uncontrollable nature of the weather. My situation is only a small and pathetic illustration of the matter. In the category big, we find Burma and the disaster that severe weather has caused to that unfortunate country.
I guess it’s both tragic and a bit funny how people are able to control and even adjust almost anything but still haven’t got any grip on the weather.
This lack of control but desire to control everything including the weather reminds me of a few movies. Like that mediocre remake of The Avengers years ago. Or one of those Batman films, Batman & Robin I think. Both movies in which Uma Thurman plays a role by the way. If I remember correctly Batman has to battle Mr. Freeze who plans on freezing Gotham City into a state of permafrost. In The Avengers Sean Connery’s the bad guy. As Sir August De Wynter, he has created a so-called weather changing machine and tries to blackmail Britain with it.
The fact that these storylines exist, prove to me that it’s something people enjoy fantasising about. Wouldn’t life be simple, easy and convenient if we could adjust the weather? Change its circumstances into something practical and logical? Always sun on Sunday. Only rain during the nights. It wouldn’t really affect nature, because plants and animals could still grow and live. But what a magical advantage it would be if we could check our diaries and calendars, arrange our meetings and days off accordingly and know always in advance what weather to expect?
We build dykes and broaden rivers when the sea level gets too high. We build irrigation systems when the earth gets too dry. We adjust and assimilate as much as we can. But actual control is still way beyond our capabilities.
Yes, I know I’m casually neglecting to mention all kinds of possible horror scenarios containing political parties, corruption and black mailing. So in the end I guess we can only hope that human kind never finds a way to have such an influence on the weather. Nowadays we can do nothing more about the rain, sun or wind, than trust our weather forecasters. Let’s hope that will never change.
Some people can’t handle that lack of control and feel the need to shoot the messenger. They feel that handing their control over to professional forecasters gives them a certain right. That’s why I leave you today with several intriguing and hilarious news items.
“In January, the mayor of Rio de Janeiro threatened to sue a weather forecaster who predicted, wrongly, that there would be storms on New Year’s Eve. The weather forecast kept crowds away from one of the biggest festivals of the year.”
“A woman in Israel is suing a TV weather forecaster because she says his prediction of sunny skies caused her to go out in the rain and catch the flu.”
“A furious tourism boss has threatened to sue a weather forecaster for an inaccurate forecast which he claimed kept hundreds of visitors away from the northwest last weekend.”
Our weekend together was absolutely fine by the way, despite the rain. Who needs the weather anyway when you’ve got love?
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