It has just stopped raining Readers of McGregors novel If nobody speaks about remarkable things will undoubtedly agree

that this novel concentrate on people- characters in the novel, their lives and their relationships. There are many angles and points of view from which we can consider and analyze the residents of a street. One particular way of thinking the characters and looking at authors intention is that of analyzing and comparing the situation, or life, on the street when it rains and when it stops raining. My following ideas are based on the extract from the novel. Let us begin with the rainy part. It is written in a more poetic way than the part of the text when it is not raining. According to me, the author uses rain as a symbol of retiringness. Everybody is hiding and waiting in the house (except the driver). Rain is drowning all others sound so that people can only watch. People cannot hear the other sound outside the street, they concentrate on their own sounds inside them- their thoughts and emotions. The text is more emotional and there are descriptions of characters feelings. The girl with the short hair and the glasses is packing her things and think about the near future, where to go, what will happen; the mother of the twins is sleeping with her husband and the author describes her happiness and satisfaction; the architecture student thinks about the place where he worked and about a change in peoples lives. The second part of the text is more active. The rain and the retiringness are gone. Children move back into street. The author inserts direct speech and dialogues to the text. Man with scarred hands finishes his contemplation of the angels and let his daughter to go play with her friend. McGregor concentrates on and describes mainly the characters actions. As the girl is running, she sees pigeon in a puddle and the boy from house number eighteen who talks with the girl from two doors down. Their feeling of the situation is described only as the heavy, thick and impenetrable air between them. The girl next sees old man standing in his front garden, a young man scrubbing his trainers and a woman hanging out a blanket and other characters performing some activities. The man with carefully trimmed moustache is preparing for bungee jumping and talking with young man behind him. The writer pays more attention on the description of his view of the town than on mans feelings as he is standing up on the platform.

To sum up, McGregor plays with his characters and he shows us their actions and states of mind in these two perspectives. Rain, as a symbol of retiringness, is mentioned many times in the novel and so it is obvious that it is important part of the story and plays important role there.