RunCarla, that is such a lovely story! The shop looks fascinating and it has a great shop front! I am so pleased to hear that the service was so good. Thank you for sharing such a fab story.

I m joining the hood gang!I have a terrible track record with brollies.l think it’s because it gets terribly windy here often when it rains and brollies are always blowing inside out and breaking,that and the fact I hate carting them around indoors dripping all over me as there’s never any where to leave them.l like yours though,especially the red and black one.

Good question! I have a Hello Kitty one I picked up in Taiwan and it definitely makes me smile. Not sure I could call it "sturdy" though!
However, as someone who lived in London for many years and needed a brolly on the regular, I am rather happy to now live in the desert and forget where it is due to lack of use!
I hope summer comes to your 'hood soon!

Oh yes, Diana’s reason applies to me also. I like umbrellas because I do not like rain spattering my glasses.

I’m team Big Hood, but have been caught unexpectedly while traveling too many times. (And in a London downpour, you really need both!) So I always travel with a collapsible umbrella tucked in my suitcase. They are all fun prints - polka dots, owl print, stripes - so I have a better chance of a visual reminder that it’s my umbrella when I go to leave a meeting!

In Australia we call an umbrella an Akubra and we wear 'em on our heads.

Umbrellas are a must for me, living in Vancouver, BC. I've had my beautiful irridescent purple one for at least 15 years (it's been fixed since the attached photo was taken), and have four or five less interesting backups. This one definitely sparks joy on a rainy day!

I want my umbrellas to “spark joy”. I’ve had several that did, but I find umbrellas break too easily. I had a gift voucher from my sister some years back and bought a gorgeous one with autumn leaves in bronzes and reds. It would have been right in fashion now! Broke
My current large one is beautiful, it has poinsettias on it, lives in my car. And my smaller collapsible one has paua ( a beautiful NZ shell, type of abalone) colours in turquoise and cobalt shades. So if wearing outfits in my fave colours of cobalt or red, I have umbrellas that tone in. DH had a good yellow and blue golf one, think that died but he bought a good quality black one which stands up to our wind!

I'm an umbrella girl! I like both sassy umbrellas and practical black and classic ones. When I started my career I had for years a high quality larger black with wooden handle that I felt so grown up and professional carrying. And also a trench coat of course. I don't love collapsible versions, too small, prone to breakage. I like the class a standard stick with curved handle brings. Right now I have a leopard print medium sized not collapsible, a very small black (still not collapsible but it might be a child's umbrella) and a clear plastic like the bubble umbrellas from what? the 70's maybe? what were they called? I spend a fair amount of time in downtown's so walking from car to destination, often blocks away. I don't usually lose or misplace them either! One for the car, one for the office and one for the hook at home by the door.

Like a few others, I have a habit of leaving my umbrellas on the bus etc, and so though I prefer the long ones, I'm going with short foldable ones I can put in my bag. Currently using a pink one - not sure I even bought it - maybe DH did. He often picks up a few from a local hardware chain that are quite sturdy, but again, I've lost a few of those!

I don’t have one. I don’t like umbrellas. I think they look sharp and pointy and I’ll poke an eye out. Bah humbug.

I need an umbrella, living with rain and wind lots of time. Always foldable to put in my bag. They get blown in tatters of course, even though I buy an expensive ones. The 3 I have now are from Marimekko( their flower pattern) and one I bought in an umbrella shop in Nice.

What I like about umbrellas is that they also protect your bag, but I do prefer just a good coat and hood. (Thus my constant search for a waterproof coat that’s not super gear looking) We often have considerable wind as well, and umbrellas are hard to manage. I do have a golf one and a couple of black collapsible ones. I often forget them at ho e though.

Lol. Typing this and it started to POUR.

Shocker - mine is striped navy and white!