Meaning: waiting for things to calm down. Use examples.
Rewrite 1: waiting for the gale to calmtiv
Rewrite 2: waiting for the seas to settle4
Rewrite 3: waiting for calmer waters
Rewrite 4: looking for traffic to clear
Rewrite 5: hoping the sun will shine soon

Comment: These represent a lot of weather-related motifs, but I’m sure you can think of lots of others. Let me know what you come up with.

More reading about clichés
What I found when I googled “clichés”:
• A Sept 11 story without the clichés: “Eisenberg's collection justifies her reputation as the American Alice Munro.”

Note: By providing links to other websites I am only showing you what is out there about clichés – I am not endorsing any content or opinion expressed there.

Check out the new alphabetical list of all my cliché rewrites available in the archive list at the right. To search the page using Internet Explorer, just go to “Edit” in the top menu bar, select “Find”, then enter the cliché or a word from it.