When I was reading the weather for Sydney on air yesterday, the forecast was for "gusty showers." I don't know about you, but that that is a rather gloomy prognostication, for rain blowing sideways and every other which-way is difficult enough to negotiate. Umbrellas are useless and the body is plastered by fast-moving pellets of water.

Speaking of which, a long time ago when I was an undergraduate at UNSW, we were experiencing similar conditions one day. A friend of mine, an Englishman whom I seem to have  lost contact with (David Llewellyn Evans, where are you?), had just purchased a brand new portable umbrella.

On its maiden outing, the wind whipped it inside out as he opened it, ripping the material from the struts. Calm as anything and without a word, he plonked it in the nearest bin. He knew how to be funny and cool at the same time!