They're cycling in the rain...

My, oh my, oh my. The weather has turned bad again and I'm back to watching my favourite extreme sport. This sport would, if officially recognised, have Italy as the undisputed world and Olympic champion in perpetuity. I am, of course, referring to umbrella cycling.

For the uninitiated, this consists of riding a sit-up-and-beg bicycle in the rain while holding up a large umbrella. The umbrella serves two functions, it keeps the rain off the cyclist and it makes it impossible for said cyclist to apply the brakes - this doesn't actually matter because the cyclist takes no account of surrounding traffic, safe in the knowledge that the umbrella will protect them from collision with any of the large metal boxes that also whizz around the roads here.

There are two main practitioners of this sport, the middle-aged man who wears a bulky water resistant jacket and the elderly woman who wears a fur coat. Both garments restrict the movement of the cyclist thus adding to the danger element.

There are minor variations including hanging plastic bags from the handlebars and talking on the telephone (I kid you not) but I am an admirer of the classic form, long may it continue.