Hey, It’s Raining in London! What Shall We Do?

Let’s get serious here, traveler. It rains in England. Often. In fact, if you look at London climatological data, it rains in London every other day, on average. So, if you plan to be in England, you can assume it will rain sometime during your visit.

What do you do when it rains? I have three words for you: “Brolly,” “Mac” and “Wellies.”  Now before you go off in a huff because I used foreign words, let’s take a look at each of them.

A Brolly (or brollie) is slang for an umbrella. The ubiquitous umbrella is often seen carried around by Londoners, even when it’s not raining. They carry the brolly because they know it will rain, so they are prepared for it. When it starts to rain, up goes the brolly. The only significant etiquette with brollies is not to bump into your neighbor or allow dripping onto your neighbor when standing in a crowd. Leave a little room, if you can. Actually, that’s not a British courtesy, it’s a courtesy for everyone.

An image from an 1893 catalog for a mac.

A Mac is a Mackintosh, or raincoat, typically made of a rubberized fabric. It is named after the inventor, one Charles Macintosh (they added the “k” at some point, who knows why?). The first appearance of a mackintosh was in the 1820s, when the original company, founded by Macintosh, merged with the Thomas Hancock Clothing Company in 1830. The company sold coats to the British Army, British railways, UK police forces, and of course, the public. In 1925 the company was taken over by Dunlop Rubber, the tire maker. It is still in business today, owned by a Japanese company that distributes macs for sale in leading fashion houses like Gucci, Hermes, Louis Vuitton and Liberty.

Today a “Mac” has a broader meaning and is a generic term for just about any raincoat. For your England trip, take a coat or jacket that is water-repellent. It should be suitable for the particular season of travel so as to provide both protection from rain and warmth for the variable temperatures you may encounter. It need not be as long as the original Mac in the image, but long enough to keep you relatively dry.

“Wellies” is a term for waterproofed boots, so called because the Duke of Wellington popularized them in the 19^thcentury.  Originally leather, wellies today are made of rubber or rubberized plastic to be waterproof. Sometimes called “gumboots” because they were made from rubber gum, they are also called “muck boots,” “billy boots” or “rain boots.” In the US they are sometimes called “galoshes” or just “rubbers.”

The Duke of Wellington, wearing his characteristic boots.

So, maybe wellies aren’t your style—ok, what you need then is some sort of waterproof footwear or something to slip over your leather shoes to keep them nice and dry. We suggest you get something that folds away to keep in a purse or a pocket of your raincoat. They don’t have to be super durable if you just need them for the trip, but if you are planning a longer stay, or plan to go back, a more durable set of shoe coverings may make better financial sense.

So, armed with a Brolly, Mac and Wellies, that English rain shouldn’t hold you back. Press on, fearless traveler!

Top Image courtesy dailymail.co.uk