MANCHESTER is England's Georgetown and, if the rain from the leaden grey skies was persistent rather than torrential, it was not unusual and quite enough to prevent a ball on the second day of the Third Test.
Old Trafford, like Bourda in the West Indies, is the ground in England that has lost more Test hours than any other.
It was always likely that the unsettled weather of this summer would interfere at some time, as it did yesterday, and that Old Trafford would be the venue affected.
The local population is so accustomed to such vagaries that thousands turned up in their rain coats and with their umbrellas from well before the appointed start at 10.30 am, knowing full well that any play was highly unlikely and, that even it was possible, it would be severely reduced.
As it was, the ground staff worked hard enough and the rain held off long enough for umpires Simon Taufel of Australia and Aleem Dar of Pakistan to order a start at 4.30 pm.
No sooner had the covers on the pitch been removed than the rain returned and the announcement half-hour later that play was abandoned was redundant.
There are two ways for the West Indies to regard the reduction of the match from five to four days.
One is that it has bought time to secure the draw that, with one Test to come, would erase the prospect of the whitewash England failed to administer in the series in the Caribbean four months ago.
The other is that it has reduced the chances of pressing for the first victory over England in 10 Tests, dating back four years.
Such a result would be a timely shot in the arm for a once proud and powerful team progressively reduced to a mere shadow of itself over the past decade.
Given the balance between the teams in the six Tests they have played against each other this year, the former is the more realistic assumption, the latter is emotional optimism.
England has won five of them, the other has been drawn.
The West Indies resume some time today - the forecast is for dry, if cloudy weather - 275 for six with wicket-keeper Carlton Baugh, in his fourth Test and an unknown quantity with the bat, and the four bowlers remaining.
Even if they can raise another 50 between them, 325 is still an inadequate total to lay before opponents who have amassed 568 and 566 for nine declared in their first innings of the first two Tests at an average rate of over four runs an over.
Unless they can be contained to more manageable totals a slower pace - and providing Manchester's fickle climate allows uninterrupted play - the West Indies could find themselves with another difficult task staving off defeat on the final day.
A turnaround calls for more disciplined bowling supported by fielding that is less like a slack school team and more like one that attains the standards once set by the West Indies and now expected at the highest level.
It is not a change that can be made overnight. It requires long hours of proper practice and preparation and there has been little evidence of either for too long now.
The precarious position of the series may help concentrate the minds of the players more. But it is not unduly pessimistic to fear for the eight days that remain in the series.