It has just been announced that 2012 was the wettest year on record. Brilliant news for cyclists and walkers, as this means it will probably be dryer next year! 
Rain is often cited by motorists as a reason for driving, but if you believe many climatologists it is actually driving that causes the rain. The link between carbon, global warming and increased rainfall in our hemisphere is well documented. 
It is trite but true that there is no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing. You can make yourself pretty well immune to rain with a cycling cape for less than a tenner. Not glamorous admittedly, but well ventilated and waterproof. The only snag I found is that they can act like a sail, and as any cyclist will tell you, the wind is always against you. 

If you haven't experienced the sudden opening of a door you won't plan for it properly. You can't avoid it as there's no time to look behind to make sure it's safe to swerve out in front of possible passing cars.

There is an immutable law that states that this only happens once to a cyclist. After the first experience a cyclist never rides along a row of parked cars within the metre that is a car door span. When it happened to me, l landed fairly comfortably in the drivers lap. As the driver helped me out she was as shocked as I was and just kept repeating, "Oh I'm so sorry, my boss cycles to work every day." I'm not sure how comforting she meant this to be, but it didn't help straighten my front wheel.