One of the delightful and trivial things I like about Australia is the preponderance of tin (actually, galvanised steel) roofs. Almost everywhere is roofed in thin layers of corrugated sheet metal, and when the regular Sydney rain piles through and hammers down, the sound is really quite lovely.
Like millions of tapdancing roof mice, all jigging away to their own mousey beat.
I really, really like it. A lot.
Back in the UK, most of the places I lived were either ridged tile roofs or bitumen flat roofs. I slept under thatch a couple of times, and slate too, but the sound of rain on roof in Britain is just not accoustically pleasing.
A good expanse of corrugated roofing sheet, though? That's a sound to be relished.
Plays havoc with the noise levels in the home studio, though.