People from gloomy England or other rain-soaked pockets of the world might be au fait with umbrella etiquette, but many in the sunburnt country struggle with brolly dos and don'ts.
    Brisbane's saturated summer has meant an increase in umbrella use in the city's CBD and with that comes the risk of brolly-related injuries.
    Many people wield their temporary brollies like weapons, charging through crowded areas and spearing their unsuspecting fellow pedestrians.
    Advertisement: Story continues below Umbrella guru Rod Purnell has been trading bumbershoots for over a decade and says Australians have a few things to learn about brolly behaviour.
    Here are a few of his tips:
    1.Use the right-sized umbrella
    Golf umbrellas are for the golf course, corporate and handbag umbrellas are for city streets. If you're using a big umbrella to duck between buildings, be mindful of where the spokes are going – poked eyes shouldn't be an occupational hazard.
    2. Don't 'brolly barge'
    Heads should be up and eyes on the road ahead, not the pavement or the brim of your umbrella. You should never barrel through a crowd the same way you might without an umbrella, even if you're in a hurry, because chances are you'll run into someone's head, face or body.
3    .Hoist and hunker
    Tall people can lift their umbrella when passing by short people to avoid umbrella collisions. Similarly short people can lower theirs closer to their head.
    4.Shake and sheath
    Try to avoid dripping wet umbrellas through foyers, houses, office buildings – even cars and taxis. Before entering, give the brolly a good, careful shake to remove excess water, and sheath it if it comes with a case.
    5.Parking and trade-up temptation
    If no umbrella stand is provided, leaning the umbrella neatly at the entrance to the building is the custom. But of course, we've all been there when an umbrella left behind becomes an umbrella lost forever. Dinner parties struck by rain are notorious for these sorts of things – blame it on the alcohol if you like, but chances are the umbrella left last is not the best umbrella first left. Try to avoid trading-up. But be aware that it does happen.
    6.Open your eyes before opening
    Like crossing a road, open your umbrella mindful of oncoming pedestrian traffic. No-one should have an umbrella balloon up suddenly in their face. Similarly, don't close your umbrella on someone's unsuspecting head.