Hacker News Reader

Comment by whatusername | Hacker News Reader

Some of us live in cities where it rains pretty frequently. Today would be lovely on a bike. Yesterday in the rain - not so much.

View on HN

In Sweden (average 164 days/year with rain), there's a saying typically used by parents when their kids complain about the weather.

It goes, translated very verbatim: "there is no bad weather, only bad clothes". It's far snappier in Swedish where it rhymes, but I guess the point comes across, still.

Update: after reading a few more comments, I guess this doesn't address the other end of the spectrum, that it can be too warm/humid to go by bike. Score one for cultural bias.

Interesting, we have that saying in Germany too. At least amongst sailors from northern Germany. It does not rhyme though but is a direct translation. My wild guess would be that sailors brought it here from Sweden. Heh!

Heh, the highest temperature ever recorded in Sweden is 100F/38C. Looks like in most parts the average winter temperature is warmer than Chicago. Sounds like you guys have it pretty easy.

Det finns inget dåligt väder, bara dåliga kläder. :-)

I've always thought that it was a common saying in Britain, notorious for its bad weather. IIRC the world's rainiest place is some island off the coast of Scotland.

No - not even close for total amount of precipitation.

However, the Scottish Highlands do excel in miserable drizzle that falls continuously for days, weeks and probably months ("dreich").

And yes, I am Scottish and have spent a lot of time outdoors!

By "rainiest" I did mean "highest number of rainy days" rather than "highest amount of precipitation".

That's the same reason Seattle has it's rainy reputation even though it gets fewer inches of rain than most East Coast cities.

Is there an "official" name for that statistic?

"misery"

I remember watching Billy Connolly doing a stand-up show years ago where he went on a massive rant about people complaining about the weather.

He rounded of his rant with the statement: "There's no such thing as bad weather, just the wrong clothes."

To this day I consider that quote to be one of my all-time favourites as it really helps me smile whilst most people are depressed over the fact that it's cold and wet.

Presumably the "Where dae ye think ye are? Benidorm?" rant :-)

I grew up in Florida and lived in Sweden for a couple years. Even as a kid I disliked Florida because you quickly run out of clothes to take off. Even in a bathing suit it's sweltering. While I don't find winter weather pleasant, I just put on more clothes until it's bearable.

Netherlands is a really rainy country. Still, bikes are extremely popular, like the average is 2 bikes per person. The typical commute scheme is (1) bike to the station, then (2) train (trains are good, really good), then (3) another bike to work.

To illustrate the "humanely fulfilling": while students in Rotterdam, we had to ride our bikes back 5km from a pub... it just started raining, but while biking the sky literaly fell on us. We arrived soaking wet, drenched. Among us, this remains one of our best memories.

Funny how that works. I have had many many occasions of traveling while soaking wet for miles, and they always make great stories, and weren't all that bad.

Now, on the other hand I've had times where it's just downright miserable, and I was pretty sure my fingers were on the verge of serious frostbite, and that was NOT fun and never will be. But, that's not too common.

The difference is probably mostly due to the windspeed, not due to the amount of water that fell on you.

Well, it was windspeed combined with enough water falling on me, but you're right- that's a given.

I hear you. I remember when I lived in Manhattan on the Upper East Side coming back from a party somewhere in deepest darkest Queens, getting off the subway and biking up the path along the East River. Middle of the night and bucketing with rain. My roomie and I were riding mountain bikes and played all the way home, jumping off every little bump in sight and charging through all the puddles. We got back to our apartment soaking wet, grinning from ear to ear like little boys. And yup, it's one of my favourite memories from living in Manhattan.

That is awesome -- it's almost unfathomable to your average commuter that the journey itself can be even better than what awaits one at the destination.

Getting soaked on the way to work can be a pain, but if one just carries a rain suit in his/her bag then this will never be an issue.

I've had some amazing experiences getting drenched too. But I'm not sure that it would be that amazing on my way into work. (Likely carrying a laptop).

There are plenty of high-quality waterproof bags you might carry a laptop in.

True. But with public transport and an umbrella 0 I can use a normal laptop bag.

I live without a car in a rainy area. I've showed up at work a handful of times simply drenched. Not fun, but it actually happens a lot less than I thought it would. It doesn't bother me particularly in other situations, like on the way home from work or when going shopping. But, yeah, showing up at work drenched kind of sucks. Of course, as others have mentioned, how you dress matters so with planning this can be ameliorated if you travel by foot or bike regularly -- which seems to be an alien concept to folks who are very dependent on their cars.

Speaking of the Netherlands, one of their contributions to cycling are the Rainmates overtrousers: http://www.rainmates.nl/?ln=en

I've got a pair of those and they are really convenient: I can put them on quickly, even while wearing shoes, and my legs don't get as sweaty because the rainmates are open in the rear side.

Muenster is one of the cities with the most raining days in germany. Still nearly everyone drives by bike. There is no such thing as bad weather. Only bad choice in clothing :).

If you have a decent waterproof jacket, sensible shoes and maybe waterproof overtrousers for when it gets really wet then even walking in the pouring rain is fairly comfortable.

I understand, I just said "argue against", not "evbdy has to".

I was arguing against the "better". For the record - I catch the train. But even when I lived close enough to ride - I caught the tram or train -- more protection from weather and much less sweat.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com