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Rain | The real Dr Foster
Who was that mysterious man in the puddle?
April is known for its showers of rain, but it doesn’t stop us occasionally forgetting and getting caught out with no umbrella. One man who got very much caught out by the April weather was Dr Foster, of nursery rhyme fame, who went to Gloucester in a shower of rain, stepped in a puddle right up to his middle and never went there again.
But did you know the tale of Dr Foster was not just a nursery rhyme but an actual historical event? Well, ‘event’ might be a bit strong. Perhaps a historical anecdote.
Dr Foster was likely to have actually been the Plantagenat king , Edward I. He was apparently on his way to Wales, passing through Gloucester, when he fell into a a large, muddy puddle (or got stuck on his horse in a stream and had to be hauled out). Either way, it was a humiliating moment and as a result he never set foot in the town again. It must have been quite a puddle to have come up to his middle, too, because Edward was fondly known as ‘Longshanks’ and stood 6 foot 2 inches tall, quite a height for that period.
So if you must go to Gloucester this April, take a brolly and some wellies and don’t go puddle-jumping.
If you’d like to know more about April showers, read Right as Rain in our April issue, which is all about the words for rain we use in various parts of the UK. Learn to tell your ‘dinge’ from your ‘henting’ from page 22.
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More from our April issue…
More thougts for rainy days…
Escape: Rainy day adventures
A rainy walk with friends or family feels somehow enlivening, as if you’re defying the weather, having fun and making memories... even when water gets in your wellies
“There’s no such thing as bad weather, only unsuitable clothing”
Lake District fellwalking legend Alfred Wainwright (originally from a Norwegian adage)
Feel the rain on your skin, see it drip through a hazel leaf funnel onto the forest floor. Touch the bark of a gnarled, rough oak or a smooth, grey beech trunk made dark by running water. Run your fingers over a velvety bracket fungus. As the sun comes out from behind a cloud, find a clearing and hold your face to the sky. A free dose of Vitamin D, courtesy of spring.
Hear the squelch and suck of wellies in gloopy mud, splash through a puddle, or linger on a bridge over a babbling brook. Hush up a little and you’ll notice birdsong all around, maybe a woodpecker at work. If the wind picks up, the branches creak and groan in an arboreal conversation that makes you believe in magical creatures. Big kid or little kid, climb a tree and feel the breeze whistle through the branches around you.
Turn to page 24 of April's The Simple Things for more of our April Showers ideas.
More from the April issue:
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