Umbrellas!

I woke up to the pitter patter of rain this morning. I’m not a fan of rain, but Mother Nature doesn’t read my blogs, so it doesn’t pay to complain about it. However, I can complain about a related subject: umbrellas. I would like to know where I can get a decent umbrella, if in fact one does exist.

Most umbrellas will hold up well if it’s drizzling outside…without wind. I have seen many an umbrella turn inside out because of wind, and it doesn’t have to be a tornado or hurricane type wind either. Most people have figured out to tilt your umbrella towards the direction the wind is blowing. That keeps you dryer and prevents an umbrella malfunction. But, all the wind has to do is change direction for a second and there goes your umbrella. First you get a face full of rain and then, as you try to regain control of your umbrella, it turns itself inside out! Don’t you think that umbrella manufacturers should take “wind” into consideration, when making umbrellas? After all, rain and wind often go together.

Another thing that irks me about umbrellas are those tiny little knotted pieces of thread that they use to attach the frame to the material. They always come undone and I have to sew the material back to the frame myself, just to get my money’s worth out of it. If I had to get rid of every umbrella that this has happened to I would not have been able to send my kids to college. Don’t you think there has to be a better way to attach the material to the frame? After all we invented the internet!

Finally, the frame of the umbrella itself is a joke. It’s a tinny, flimsy piece of junk that does not stand the test of time. How many times has one of the corners of my umbrella hung down like the lid of a lazy eye? That’s one thing I can’t fix, so I have no choice but to replace it. But, should I invest in an expensive umbrella or buy one at the dollar store? They both seem to have the exact same issues and I swear the dollar one lasts longer.

I have been buying my umbrellas at the Totes outlets the past few years. Well, actually 6 years ago to be exact. I wanted the girls to have decent umbrellas to protect them from the rain and Totes has a lifetime policy, which means if they break they replace them free. I figured that meant their products met higher standards. I was wrong. There is nothing whatsoever different about a Totes umbrella, except they will replace it when it breaks and they do. They replace it with another umbrella that breaks.

This is the 21^st century! We have made enormous progress in every technological field. Computers, television, cell phones, cameras, medical science, you name it. So why, oh why are we still using the same umbrella they used in Ancient Greece in 5^th century BC? (Wikipedia)