Rain in Churton

Rain has such narrow shoulders it will get everywhere

J.C. Bridge no.274, page 105

Beeston hill, seen from Churton, under a very black cloud

And oh boy.  When it rains around here one is left in no doubt on the subject.  It comes down in  dense sheets of uncompromising verticality, bouncing when it hits pavements, roads and patios and it pools morosely wherever it gets the opportunity, seeping into every nook and cranny. The river Dee builds ominously between its banks, eventually overflowing into its floodplain, drenching footpaths and edging its way ominously towards the little hairdresser at the foot of Holt and isolating the new house above the footpath on the Farndon side of the bridge.

I lived in Aberdyfi on the mid-Welsh coast for two years immediately prior to coming to West Cheshire after leaving London, and I thought that I would never see such thoroughly determined rainfall ever again.  But most Aberdyfi houses are on the side of a steep hill, mine included, and all the rainwater had the courtesy to run downhill and deposit itself into the sea.  Cheshire, being flat and often poorly drained, is different.  The wellington boots that I bought for mudlarking on the Thames foreshore when I lived in London have come into their own for use on what I once thought of as dry land.  In west Cheshire, dry land is a very movable feast.

Joseph Bridge offers no comments about this proverb, presumably believing, very justifiably, that this one speaks for itself.  Not all of them do, even when Bridge seems to think that they are perfectly transparent, but this one is completely unambiguous to a resident on the Welsh borders.

I started this series on Cheshire Proverbs a couple of years ago and then, during a big rearrangement, lost the Joseph Bridge book on which it was based: Cheshire Proverbs and other Sayings and Rhymes Connected with the City and County Palatine of Chester.  I found it the other day, and even though there has been a big gap between the previous proverb in the series and this one, it seemed worth reviving.  If you would like to know about his proverbs, sayings and rhymes, you can see the Introduction to the series here. Other proverbs in the series are listed here, at the very end of the Archaeology, Heritage and Art page.