For a resourceful book distributor, there’s actually no bad weather: there is only improper clothing and equipment. Naturally, if we had the choice, we would prefer that every day had a pleasant temperature, with sun and some nice breeze, but unfortunately, we are not the ones in control. Some days will be very hot, others very cold, sometimes there will be scorching sun, others torrential rain, sometimes cloudy sky, sometimes snow. To just tolerate is not always a good idea, since to just stay in freezing weather without proper clothing, or to get soaked in the rain is dangerous for our health. The best thing is to adapt, using the proper clothing and equipment.
Cold weather demands a good coat, gloves, boots, hat, scarf, wool socks and so on, maybe even a hand warmer. If you are going to distribute regularly in such a climate, then you should spend whatever is necessary to have proper clothing. You shouldn’t be cold for extended periods of time. Human beings can survive even in very extreme climates, like in Antarctica, where temperatures can go as low as -70C, it’s just a matter of getting proper equipment.
On the opposite extreme, we have very hot days, with scorching sun over our heads. The best in such cases is to stay under some cover, like the marquise of a department store. If you need to stay under the sun, you need to get a sun hat or a sun guard. Clothing should be light, appropriate for the hot climate. To do more austerity than necessary is not really a good quality, since our bodies are not our property, but Krsna’s. Therefore, we need to take proper care of them in order to continue distributing books for long.
On rainy days, apart from the proper equipment, including an umbrella, raincoat and waterproof boots, a good strategy is to stay in some covered place and try to stop those who are passing or going in and out. Stopping people under the rain usually doesn’t work very well, since usually they are already disturbed by the rain. Fortunately, days where it rains heavily the whole day are rare: normally it showers for some period and then the rain becomes very light or stops. If you tolerate and do what you can during the rain, you will have a better chance later, when it stops.
If there is no other alternative apart from staying under the rain, then the best strategy is to get a good umbrella and impermeable boots and to try to make jokes and be informal when speaking to people to break the negative atmosphere. If the person is not using an umbrella, use yours to cover him when he stops. One challenge is that for presenting the books you need to always have one free hand, which (unless you have four arms already) means that you need to hold both the umbrella and the stack of books with the other hand, which demands a little practice. Another option is to keep the books in a side bag and take them out as you present them.
Unfortunately, one common problem for long time book distributors is damage of the back and shoulders, due to carrying heavy loads for extended periods of time. That was very common in the early days, when devotees used to carry heavy bags, many times carrying all the books of the day on their backs the whole time. It’s possible to reduce the risk by doing specific exercises to strengthen the core muscles, but the main thing is to not carry much weight in the first place. Unless you are going to distribute only five or ten books per day, you need to get a cart to carry your books. Leave all your books in the cart and carry just a small stack with you (sufficient for 30 to 45 minutes of distribution) and go back to pick up more books from the cart when your stack is finishing. The best is to become friends with some shopkeeper or street vendor, and leave your cart with him. If that’s not possible, you can just use a chain and a padlock to fasten your cart to some pole or tree. As long as your cart doesn’t look too fancy, people are not going to try to steal it. Usually, robbers are interested in phones and tablets, not in books. With all the terrorism paranoia that we have nowadays, an abandoned cart may look suspicious, therefore it’s important to notify some people who work close that the cart is yours and that you are near.
Once, there was a case of a prabhu that was getting back problems because of book distribution. He used to distribute not more than 10 books or so per day, so I asked him what exactly he was doing. He told me that he used to carry a few books in his arms and the rest in a backpack. I was still not understanding, since he wouldn’t have gotten problems in the back just by carrying 6 or 7 books in a backpack (that in this case would be less than two kilos). He explained that although he was distributing only 10 books per day, he liked to “try to shoot the rhinoceros”, and therefore he would gallantly take a minimum of 40 books with him. He was bravely carrying these 40 books during the whole day in his backpack, no wonder he was getting back problems! It’s good to be chivalrous and try to shoot the rhinoceros, but we should use our heads. Somehow I convinced him to start using a cart and his back problem disappeared. The knight got a chariot.