The stinging rain in the eyes made me smile, as I remember exactly the same thing happening to me. Doing my A & B at RAF Upavon in the very early 80s (see, much younger than you'd think) I did wonder why all those smart-arses were posing around in their ski-goggles. Well, it didn't take too many British weekends and the associated crap weather, pelting rain and severely impaired visibility through almost closed eyes to figure that out and then it was of to a local sport shop to equip myself with the same.
Good ol' ATC. Gliding, PPL, free trip to the USA etc. What a great organisation
