It has been a bit of a mystery to me, up until a few days ago. I used to wonder why talking about the weather was such an easy icebreaker in England.

It suddenly dawned on me – and the answer was pretty simple. Here goes.

1. In England we all share the weather. It’s the one great thing that all the English share the same joys and miseries. I mean this is so obvious that it isn’t appealing. But it is true. The weather is there for all of us.
2. We suffer or enjoy the weather together. So that common union with the weather makes it easy to talk about.
3. It’s a force that we have no control over. So it is like common friend or foe.