"Join right downwind runway 23, not below 2,000' over the city, we have an IFR departure."
"Unable to comply due cloud base."
By the time the airliner was actually ready to roll I was in the normal place on a left downwind, having crossed the climb-out tens of seconds earlier.
Puzzling thing is that I'm surprised ATC didn't know where the cloud base was. (I could have accepted a climb into cloud and an ILS, but I didn't want to.)