It's Raining, Again.....

This February feels like a re-run of last Feb weather wise, with 3 or 4 days exception. Last Tuesday and Wednesday I was sat out in the garden eating my breakfast and reading a newspaper. Not for the rest of the week though! 

I had been told that it rains alot in Tuscany in the winter, but I didn't believe it could be any wetter than Manchester, UK, where I grew up. I was wrong!! It ISN'T wetter year on year, but by season winter is probably wetter if anything. Bizarrely Florence and Manchester share similar geography. Both are on the western side of their countries, one being an island, the other a narrow peninsula. Both have rivers running through them down to the sea, so there is no real barrier between them and the coast which, in both cases, is about an hour away and both are in a bowl of mountains on three sides. What this meant in Manchester and also seems to mean here, is that the cloud and rain blows in from the sea and dumps their load on Manchester and Florence before it hits the hills. Oh, and the mountain range here is the Appenines and the range in the UK is the Pennines. Wonder who thought the name up for the UK range? Hmmm....

Anyhow, it's times like this I wonder what I am doing here, then the rain stops, the sun comes out and I remember! No matter what, I would never get 18C in February in Manchester!