Ever-changing, brilliant fun and a limitless conversation starter, weather can be embraced as a positive presence in all of our lives, believes teacher and author Matt Gaw
Dark rain clouds. Gusty wind. The heavens primed to open. For most, these are signs to stay indoors. Not Matt Gaw. For this self-confessed aficionado of gnarly weather, rainstorms have him reaching for the latch.
Why? Mostly, he says, it’s just “good fun”. As adults, reckons the nature writer and secondary school teacher, weather gives us the opportunity to indulge our primal instinct for play.
The grottier it is, in fact, the better. He recalls recently standing on an exposed promontory on the Isle of Skye, for example, his teenage kids at his side, the weather “blowing a hoolie”. It was, he says, a holiday highlight.
“The wind, you know, it creates this kind of sensory overload pushing against your skin,” he explains. “Physiologically, it stresses our bodies, which can actually make us feel quite euphoric.”
That same conviction led him on a search of Britain’s famously varied climes. The subtitle of his subsequent book, In All Weathers, gives a favour of what he found: A Journey Through Rain, Fog, Wind, Ice and Everything In Between.
But, let’s be honest, getting soaked to the skin or freezing to the bone isn’t always ‘fun’ – at least, not in the conventional sense. But fun as frivolity isn’t Gaw’s primary meaning: what matters to him more is the joy of being “really present in life” that exposure to the weather permits. Who, after all, stands in a hailstorm and scrolls on their phone or frets about the unfinished hoovering?
The same logic explains Gaw’s antipathy to the popular notion of weather being ‘good’ or ‘bad’. In Britain especially, he reasons, waiting for a sunny day in order to hit the trails or visit the park could see you languishing at home for days on end.
Not only do we end up missing out, but cocooning ourselves against anything that could bring on a chill or muddy our shoes is an evolutionary misstep in Gaw’s view. By adapting our environments to suit us, he argues, we’ve cut ourselves off from the world around us. Weather, in contrast, offers a way to reconnect, “which does wonders for our body and our soul”.
The beauty of the weather is its ubiquitous availability. ‘Come rain or shine’, and all that. All it takes is a step out the door. Obviously, take some basic precautions, Gaw advises. But not too many. After all, dressing head to toe in windproof, breathable, water-resistant garb can rather spoil the point.
The wind creates this kind of sensory overload pushing against your skin. Physiologically, it stresses our bodies, which can actually make us feel quite euphoric
Personally, he loves nothing more than swimming outdoors in heavy rain or, better still, in the snow. That’s not for everyone, he concedes. Standing outside is enough: just as long as you’re tuned in to the wind in your hair or the rain on your skin.
Still, the love of all weathers can be a tricky sell. As Gaw wryly observes, Brits would much rather talk about the weather, than experience it. His solution? Start with where people are at. So, the next time your colleague says: “Oh, it’s miserable out there”, gently ask them: “Why?” “What’s the experience like, of you being out there? Was it really that miserable?” he says in role play mode.“Ultimately, it all comes down to our mindset and just trying to be more open.”
And what about his students: do they buy in to Gaw’s vision? It’s difficult to tell, he admits. Some think he’s a “moron”, for sure. But others appear more receptive. A few even went for a run in the rain the other day. And did they enjoy it? He smiles.“They loved it!”
In All Weathers by Matt Gaw is out now, published by Elliott & Thompson Limited
Photography by Eleanor Church / Lark Rise Pictures
