tradition

britain is a place of tradition. whether they are good, bad, old, developing or new traditions play an important part in the british way (ways?) of life. they ground us in our history; they connect us to the past and help guide us into the future. 

this summer a very important tradition seems to have disappeared. 

the first week of wimbledon tennis tournament has come and gone. the australian cricket team have played the first of their one day internationals against england. on their own there is nothing special about them. (and a little digression here – they are both sports that involved a ball being hit by something which automatically means that i was never any good at them, it also means that in terms of watching them they approach the thrill of paint drying. yet i am often engrossed by the radio commentary for both sports – if only because i admire people who can talk sensibly for a long period of time without swearing). 

so what is the tradition i am talking of? 

rain. 

where is the rain to call these games off? where is it? 

i think the rain stopped when wimbledon finally went all modern and hi-tech by installing a roof on its centre court, stopping rain from being a factor in calling games off.

so now there isn’t any rain when tennis and the cricket internationals coincide.

i already hate the loss of that tradition.

bring back the summer rain; bring it back now – even if it means cliff richards sings.