Robert used metaphors to express ideas about romance and personal relationships. In Shifting Weather, the changing moods–the blossoming and clouding of a relationship–are compared to unpredictable changes in the weather. He also compares the course of a relationship to a spinning merry-go-round, with its repetitive motion. Relationships can go round in circles as patterns of behavior get entrenched. The merry-go-round, inspired by the final scene in Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train, features two horses, a calm and happy horse, on the left, and an excited, alarmed horse, on the right. Robert has condensed elements from his first sketch, moving the merry-go-round to the background and bringing the couple half-hidden behind the umbrella to the center of the image. The translucent umbrella functions like a mask. The fairground setting creates a carnival-like atmosphere in which the normal rules of behavior are temporarily suspended. This is a time for unpredictable feelings to triumph over social restrictions. The carnival is also a time for masks and disguises as people try on different roles for themselves. The solitary man on the right may be a neutral observer or an abandoned and brooding lover whose luck has run out.