A RAINY JUNE IN ENGLAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 2525, 6 August 1902, Page 63

A RAINY JUNE IN ENGLAND.

Of tb>- ei^btLVU ilub of tin- month, we !, id li id hi'teen rainy rl «\ -. Yc-ttiday (.June 13) the sun -hone -..tfuPy: to-day 11 Ims ifVaim d p<i!ely ocf.a<-;(jnally from behind ■i 1 loud pall. All the other dj\ s bave been hope!e--ly. soakingly, bea\ lly wet. Before tins icacl.t- you, the news o f Coronation Day will be s'.'lc;. but as I wine the gieat Litest ton i s . " Ik be. or not to be "— a. Hue

Kvcn an Englishman will use strong language ugainst his weather if it ?poilb, as it tlneutcns to do the pomp and magnihceni_e of the giwit (iL-ja-sion. It takes a _'<iod deal ol 1. n:-'Uie l>i d'liijj ..u Hnglis-h-11MI1-s Jid'>in. but ioir. ■ %l:,v leali'-tn, language is in riruiLition .tt yie-si.nt. of the adject iv. s have become monotonous — abominable, dreadful, di^ustuig, awful, Mckeiiui;,'. fnghtiiil. appalling, deadly, dash-able have 10-t thtir .significance by repttiti.-n ; supeilatives are worn, threadbuie. Apology and explanation to visitors from sunny lands is received with incredulity: thine- is an expression in the southern e\ c w liich say=, "I am no longer deceived. I have Leard of the English cbmate- now I know."

All the bit? out-door events have been practically .spoilt : where throngs of iinartly-dreseed folk would have been, the tens of thousands have been reduced to bundled;-, and the vivid colouring of June to the dun of December. It has been a most disappointing experience for those who bast xitit«d. Esgl&ni for jj^ eoawsis fiut-

pose of participating in the season's festivities. With one or two excepitons, Hyde Paik has had no 5 o'clock; tba river — the upper reaches of which are exquisite at this t.me of ye-\r — has had no carnivals ; the «;>ow plates are sodden, and urtil "the light* o' London "' illuminate the streets at night, spite of the stir and bustle and irrepressible air of expectation, the scene is desolation : closed carriages and covered rectors, busses and trams packed m the inside wjth cloaked figures, the outside a huddle of iimbrellas, and the footpaths lined vrith mackintoshed figures, with which the guily-diessed models in the shop windows contust in rather ghastly mockery, their

wax faces shamefaced for the muslin ana lace costumes which they wear. In spite of ths rain, there is stir, movement, life. No sooiser do the clouds I2tr than the millions are abroad, like bees swarming from their have.a, and tlie roar ok the traffic grows deeper. Orientals in picturesque attire, in carriage ajid on foot, ap-c pear among the sombre garbed Britishers. and r like Sowers that had suddenly opened tc the sun. gaily-hued garments appear simultaneously -with its shining.-. — In Cairo the proportion of blind peopl< . to the population is one to every 20 resi " dents.

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