An entry for the Bulwer-Lytton Award?
"It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents--except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness."
--Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, Paul Clifford (1830)
What a vivid description.
My only claim to fame is that I was 1st runner-up in that sucker one year. Got me a front page story in the paper on what I imagine was the slowest news day in history :)