Britain is a country of soggy old men and Shakespeare and I and ' the rain it raineth every day'.

When I was a boy in the 1950's, it seemed to rain every day. Now I am an old boy in 2009 it seems to rain every day.
I was reminded of Feste 'the clown' in Shakespeare's 'Twelfth Night' who, with underlying sadness, at the end of the play, sang : "The rain it raineth every day," suggesting that every day brings some kind of misery which was a melancholy line for a 'clown'.

When that I was and a little tiny boy,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
A foolish thing was but a toy,
For the rain it raineth every day.
But when I came to man’s estate,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
’Gainst knaves and thieves men shut their gate,
For the rain it raineth every day.
But when I came, alas! to wive,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
By swaggering could I never thrive,
For the rain it raineth every day.
But when I came unto my beds,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
With toss-pots still had drunken heads,
For the rain it raineth every day.

A great while ago the world begun,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain, But that’s all one, our play is done,
And we’ll strive to please you every day
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3e7qk-Jbo54

Shakespeare died at the age of 52 in 1616 and must have been harking back to the wet 1560's when he was a lad. So, I do have something in common with the 'Greatest Englishman who ever lived' : We both had soggy childhoods.

P.S. 'toss pots'. So that's where the expression came from.