Does the UK weather make you feel like shit...

[DilemmaADay]

This is a bit of a rant, but just wanted to sound out here and see if anyone else feels the same.
I'm just honestly fed up with the weather in the UK at the moment. In the North we haven't had one consecutive week where it's not rained and been grey. We have a bit of sun at the moment, but it's decieving as it's freezing once you step outside.
Me and DH only have one day a fortnight off together and it always seems to rain, so plans for nice long walks and brunches get replaced by staying in with Netflix. A lot of MNers would tell me to donn my waterproofs and embrace the weather, but I can't imagine anything worse than trudging through the pissing rain, wrapped up to the eyeballs in waterproofs
I have some nice summer clothes bought for holidays, find myself wearing the same five outfits in rotation which involves jumpers waterproof boots and tights. I feel frumpy and dowdy and I'm only 34.
Someone once mentioned the drinking culture in the UK, which I think has largely to do with the weather here as well. We're not like the Mediterranean's who can sit having 2 hour antipasti lunches outside with a glass of wine. It's a good life style, but I think the weather on top of everything that's gone on these past few years like Covid, cost of living increases, etc is making a lot of people miserable.
I don't think I have SAD, as I don't think sitting in front of the bright light would make me feel better. I want to feel the sun on my skin, be able to go for a walk where you're not packing for 15 weather changes and be able to eat outside just for once.

Why can’t you tell people the sex of your baby indoors?

I'm really enjoying this summer as I feel about the summer the same way most people feel about the winter.

It's been lovely today where I am, I don't need weeks and weeks of endless sunshine and heat but I understand people are different.

It's a canon gender reveal so it needs to be done outdoors. It's just extremely depressing me. We have a 7 months old pup. I think it's rained everyday since we got him (he always stinks of wet dog, constantly washing him) I literally bought a caravan when we had that two weeks of summer this year. I have spent £8k on it and used it once and that time rained too!!

No, not at all.
Our weather is what it is, l can remember these same old conversations when l was a young girl, no doubt when I'm elderly we will still be having them. This weather is typical of the UK, l just make the most of it, the weather doesn't stop me doing anything. I don't have a car and tend to walk most places, raining or not. I certainly wouldn't allow it to ruin my mood, that's being a defeatist.

same here.....

I'm in Spain at the moment and although early 30s in middle of the day it is not 'hell on Earth' as one of my relatives described it when asked why we were going. The overall quality of life appears to be better as food like fruit, cheeses, meats are good tasting but loads cheaper from local supermarket. There are lots of apartment blocks where I am staying and the Spanish appear very sporty so beach volleyball nets everywhere for free and swimming pools/tennis courts and football enclosures are used really late at night due to the weather it is funny to hear and see the Spanish children of 9+ playing out at 1am so in this weather I would imagine you need the corresponding time off as parents to not work.

That said, we went to Copenhagen a couple of years ago and the weather was similar to Britain, there was rain when we went to a theme park in August but people appear happier and life seems better, like Spain lots of focus on keeping active at a young age, children/teens better catered for so I have concluded that life is better in many European countries, it is more about quality of life rather than weather and in Britain now everything is so expensive but unlike the Nordic countries wages are low which has been made so much worse since leaving the EU.

This. In fact I now no longer live in the UK, I live somewhere far wetter than where I used to live in England, but I quite agree, as a fellow non-driver. The only kind of weather that annoys me is weather that stays the same for too long. I lived in the ME for a couple of years and the hot dry weather, with no seasons, got very depressing.

No, makes me feel glad that I live here rather than mainland Europe.

I live in Southern Hemisphere… visited Uk at Christmas and I was almost suicidal.. I take citalopram and I could feel my mood dropping through the floor. It was awful. Will not cross the borders of the UK in winter ever again!

At least this week has been lovely, if only we could have more sunny days in the UK...

This is unbearable heat, no just sunny. Most people enjoy sunny weather. I haven’t been able to go outside today because it’s too hot. I can’t exercise or get on with housework. It’s unbearable.

It's hideous. I have stuff that has to be done, this weekend and I don't think I I have ever sweated so much in my life my hair and clothes are soaking. It's so uncomfortable. Even if I was spending a relaxing day it would be too hot to walk any distance. Miserable.

Nope, you're wrong, it's glooooooooorious, and a welcome relief from the recent shitness.

I've brought some work home with me this weekend and It's too hot to concentrate! I'm honestly thinking of investing in home air-conditioning from next summer onwards.

Apart from 3 weeks in June it has been ridiculous. No spring to speak of ( still wearing thick jumpers up to the very end of May. )

July and August were just appalling and of course the ministry schools go back- a heatwave!

We have been away this week so pleased to have missed the horrid humid heat which is never nice in the UK and now flying back to another week of grey clouds and rain...

I seem to have had a very different summer, second week of school holidays in North Wales, one rainy day, rest of the week fine, 4th week of holidays in Cornwall - 5 lovely days beach weather, bank holiday week on Isle of White - one rainy day -rest of the week fine. In between we have had day trips to London Birmingham, Liverpool and Worcester - all very warm sunny days
Fabulous summer

I know this post is from a year ago but omg, I completely agree with what you say. I have no interest in going for a walk in the rain, I can't think of anything more miserable. I hate having to plop on an undershirt, a jumper, then a hat, my coat, and then do the same for my toddler.

I'm from the US and I've lived in the UK for more than a decade, I think I was able to cope with the shitty weather because I was working full time and long hours. I also would travel abroad a lot so I had those trips to look forward to.

Since I've become a SAHM and we've had to cut back our spending, I realised how miserable I am in the UK where there's just not much to do because the weather is so prohibitive, I have a little boy with asthma, I'm pregnant and it's always fucking grey and rainy. It has rained where I live seemingly nonstop since September - and it's March.

I'm honestly so sick of the rain and the grey weather and wind and nothing to do that I've told my partner I want to move back to the USA. I grew up somewhere that has sunshine throughout the year, and it's pretty much "summer" from April to October. Having a child and expecting my 2nd made me realise I can't deal with having to do so much indoors, or go to mum groups and the kids are snotty nosed and coughing in a small indoor space because it's raining outside.

Can't wait to move back!

I feel so despondent today. I walked my dog today dressed head to toe in waterproofs. Slipped in mud and landed on my arse. So fed up of the relentless rain and grey skies.
I'm an outdoor person, I don't even want warm sun just dry! I've never known it this awful.

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow same here. The local parks are waterlogged with standing water everywhere due to the relentless rain. It's horrible and we need a really good summer now, especially after the last one.

Even I've had enough of it at the moment, I'm normally a big fan of the lukewarm British summertime as 22°C is plenty warm enough for me snd the rest of the year is OK too but I am SO sick of the rain now, it doesn't seem to have stopped for months. This time two years ago I was off work with Covid and it was warm enought to sit in the garden all day, I want that weather again.

I know exactly what you mean @usagirl2020 . I also grew up in a country outside the UK that has a glorious 'proper' spring and all other seasons. I used to take it all for granted until I moved to the UK and had kids myself, and realized what a hindrance it really is

Does your partner want to move back to the US as well? My DH is English but doesn't want to, so I'm kinda stuck here while my kids complete their secondary education. I'm hoping i can convince him to move back abroad in 6 years when my youngest DS finishes secondary.

I find it very tough now because it also never bothered me when I was younger!! I save up every penny I can to escape on holiday lol. What is also annoying is now when it gets gets unbearably humid and hot, it's also horrible and it's becoming rare for the weather here to be pleasant and sunny without either a heatwave or a downpour like last summer.

Hahah, I think he is so sick of me whinging that he has agreed to moving in the next year or two. Obviously, moving countries has a lot of logistics behind that so I'm pragmatic that I can't just dump my stuff here and go. With two cats, a toddler and a baby on the way I will have to pace ourselves with preparing and looking for the right place, and also finding a job.

I guess what I've forgotten because I've been here for so long is just feeling the sun on my skin, hearing the frogs at night and cicadas in the daytime, being able to go for a walk or ride my bike without having to check the weather all the time. I've missed a lot of that, and I'm in my mid 30s so I'd rather go before I get too old and then just have to sit around in a rocking chair in a retirement village.

It will be worth the move! I say that as someone who moved from Ireland to Western Australia in my 40s, I wish I had done it years before. I've been here ten years now and the novelty of having sunny weather for about ten months a year will never wear off! I do own a coat, but even in winter seldom need it, and we get most of our rain in heavy rain over a few months, which suits me much better than endless grey skies and drizzle! It really is a gamechanger for me, so I hope you can move to sunnier climes too!

That's good to know. I think there's always the though in the back of my head that my son will miss his grandparents in the UK, but then I have to remind myself that he doesn't really know his grandparents in the US!

Good mention about the rain, I completely forgot about that part too - where I'm from the rain season is similar, sort of bunches up around August/September (hurricane season) and then dissipates after that! Which is nice to having a few months designated to rain rather than the whole damn year (feels like!)

I'm in Ireland, not the UK, but the weather has been so depressing this past year or so. Seems like we have permanently grey skies and rain. I'm sorry I didn't emigrate years ago.