The Strange Case of Seattlites and the Sun

We are a funny breed, we Seattlites.

We stoically exist in a kind of rolling grey universe most of the time. It rains, it mists, it is just overcast. Grey.

Or gray...whichever you prefer, I guess.

We soldier on when it's cold and grey. We don our down and polar fleece and our gortex, and head out into our world.

We look hopefully skyward mornings when we are greeted with a marine layer, thinking it'll burn off and bring the warming sun. We call it a marine layer when we are still hopeful that it's not a big thick layer of clouds that just will NOT burn off.

It works for us.

We live in the grey and rainy environment, happy but loudly proclaiming how miserable it is - and we are - so that others will not come here for fear of developing a personal case of mold or fungus somewhere. It is a strategy that we teach our young in grammar school. They get this indoctrination along with calling Mt. Rainier "the mountain" as in: "Hey look! The mountain is out today!", and being taught the correct pronunciation of Yakima and Puyallup.

It works for us.

Where else do you hear the term "sun breaks" in the local weather report? Haha! It's all about the grey/rain image.

So, when the sun actually does come out, we go nuts - for awhile anyway.

See, in Seattle, we will wear shorts and sandals starting at about 55 degrees fahrenheit. With no jacket. A sweatshirt maybe, but definitely no jacket. The other day, I even saw a guy with shorts, sandals and a down vest. it was below 55 degrees though, so the vest was OK, per the handbook on such things.

When we get a run of sunshine and hot weather...we just don't know what the hell to do. We buy sunglasses - more sunglasses are sold here than anywhere else in the country, because we lose them between sunbreaks. We run to the store for sunscreen. We bring out the kiddie pools and the fans and turn on the A/C if we have it (which most of us do NOT). We also go to costco looking to buy one of those portable air conditioners that we laughed at last week. they will sell out in one day. As will most of the fans - for some reason, we lose those too, and need to replace them annually.

The first day of sunshine and hot weather, we go around blinking and saying things like "Today is our summer..." and "Isn't the sunny weather beautiful?". This is followed later in the afternoon by "Hot enough for ya?", and "Where the hell is the fan?".

The next day, the whining begins in earnest.

You see, Seattlites like the IDEA of hot weather in the summer, but they DO NOT like the actuality. We do not like temperatures over about 78 degrees. We whine, and bitch, and go to air conditioned restaurants and movies.

We close all the blinds and windows in the house during the heat of the day in order to preserve what coolness seeped in over night through the open windows. Our houses are well insulated, so it can stay cool if you work it right.

We sit languishing (sweating and bitching) under umbrellas in our backyards, sipping beer and lemonade and putting our feet in the kiddie pool while the fan we finally found in the attic is hooked up with an extension cord and is now outside blowing directly on us. We need several fans if there are more than one of us outside. With our sunglasses, and flip flops, and sunscreen.

We have a style.

It works for us.

Happy Summer! Hope you've enjoyed it!

M&G