ALWAYS carry an umbrella in London?

No. Why would they? Where did you gather this pearl?

No. You're thinking of the old cliche of the businessman with the bowler hat and umbrella.

Many of us prefer a hooded rain jacket when it does rain, as umbrellas can be hell on crowded pavements.

Incidentally it's perfectly possible that we might get rain even on days when it's not forecast. This is a small island in the middle of many weather systems and it can change frequently.

It rains more in Paris.

Don't rely on weather forecasts, they are often wrong.

maybe better to say that if you're outdoors a lot, you're likely to get rained on at some point. Showers blow through but they move on just as quickly.

I always carry an umbrella in my purse and I live in Canada.. I am sure that others, like me, like to be prepared lol

There's more annual rainfall in Chicago and Springfield than London. Do what you do there when no rain is forecast.

On the other hand, John Wickham Steed always has a brolly in hand whenever I see him, maybe he knows something the rest of us don't.

We always carry small travel umbrellas on every trip. And we often use them despite whatever weather is supposed to be.

And it rains more in Indiana. When we lived there we always had a umbrella in the car, one at the office, and several at home. Over the years we have spent close to a month in London between the months of May and October. I assume we had couple of days of rain but no real memory of rain as it had little impact on what we did. If really concerned then throw in a small travel umbrella so you are prepared. But that is low on the list of things we worry about when going to London.

I've got a small water-resistent coat that can fold up into one of its own pockets, and can be clipped to the outside of my purse. It's not water-proof, but is good enough for London's extended drizzles.

I live in the east of England where the rainfall is the lowest in the country.

My wife almost never leaves the house without a small umbrella.

Whilst some parts of the UK - Lake District, the West Country and Wales can be very wet, you can go weeks in London without seeing any rain. Having said that, it has rained this week!

I don't carry an umbrella unless rain is forecast. A jacket with a zip off hood is far more practical.

The saying used to be if you always carried an umbrella you'd be happy you didn't have to use it and glad of it if you did. However, under blocked conditions there can be no rain for weeks ...

I was due for clearing fog and mist this morning and got full blown rain and HUUGE puddles....

My experience during more than 2 months in Normandy, Brittany, southern England and Wales this year was that precipitation predictions were quite unreliable, but such rain as occurred was usually fairly light and short-lived. I carried a hooded rain jacket with me just about every day, because the day could look really good at 9 AM but change to dark clouds before noon. Or vice versa, of course.

Not at all, unless you have plans set in stone, they can always be delayed for a short time and let the weather pass. Stop into a pub for a pint or have a coffee at a cafe. You're not an office worker that has to be at work at a specified time in the morning.

Gunderson, but Steed's umbrella cenceals a sword in the handle. What every well dressed civil servant needs!

Yes, it's in my day bag just in case; I'll have it with me next month in England. It's light and portable so why not.

I find more often than not my light hooded vest does the trick - but I do often stick my small umbrella in my day bag to have it to hand.

Click the link and you will see the live weather. Then click the PLAY arrow and you will see the prediction for the next few hours.
https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weather/forecast/map/#?map=CloudAndRain&fcTime=1403233200&zoom=6&lon=-4.00&lat=51.74

Hooded vest??? I do find the mental picture of wandering around in one of these with a hood on.....
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61zWr7D0hiL._UX342_.jpg
Quite amusing. :-)

hooded vest

Two nations divided by a common language :)

As you can see from the previous posts, the issue is not the sheer amount of rain; it's the fact that it can rain at any time, whether or not it has been forecast. How one deals with this, as you can also see, varies from person to person. Some use an umbrella; some use a hood; some duck into a shop; some just accept getting wet.

If, like me, you deal with rain by having an umbrella, yes, you'll want to always have one. But trusting that a day in London that starts without rain, and that is not forecast to have rain, is guaranteed to stay dry, is going to lead to a lot of frustration.