I love it when the poetry inherent in life peeks out from behind a corner where you weren’t looking for it. That’s (one of the many reasons) why I love the British. They have a casual way with the language – they’re not afraid of it, so they don’t make it stilted or full or jargon. They understand it, and they use it in a way that shows – it’s erudite and playful and just plain smart. Not everyone, of course, but I think it’s more common among the British than among Americans. That’s why BBC radio is more fun to listen to than CNN radio. (I’m loving the Sirius satellite radio.) They know more, but they’re not afraid to drop a little joke in the middle of things, so you’re busy thinking and understanding and all of a sudden you think “hey, did he just make fun of that guy?” So often we’re terribly concerned with not sounding too smart. Which generally makes us sound like idiots. (See pet peeves, below.) So this is why I loved the weather forecast I read this morning.

…SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ 430 AM EST FRI MAR 28 2003
…A WILD END TO MARCH EXPECTED OVER THIS WEEKEND…
THE EXPRESSION OF THE MONTH OF MARCH GOING OUT LIKE A LAMB LITERALLY WILL NOT HOLD MUCH WATER THIS WEEKEND. A LARGE SWING IN WEATHER CONDITIONS IS EXPECTED yap yap yap MOIST SOUTHERLY FLOW yap yap yap STRONG COLD FRONT yap yap yap

Okay, so he (or she) didn’t hold it for long. But it’s wasn’t all PRECIPITATION and ACCUMULATION. Sometimes in life there’s just rain and wind and wild ends and a little, tiny bit of literary reference in the weather.