Weather..............

This weeks Weekend Wandering question from David (Authorblog) is

When did you last complain about the weather?

If you would like to join in here's what David would like you to do:


Please answer today's question on your own blog, any time until next weekend. Just link to this blog (or to this post) so I can follow the progress of the discussion.

This question just made me laugh out loud!

It is not an urban myth that the favourite topic of conversation by English people is the weather. Any greeting of “Hello”, “Good Morning”, “Hi” will be followed by some comment on the weather – either too hot, too cold, too windy, too much rain, too extreme. We are never truly happy here unless we are complaining about the weather.

Recently we have not had two days the same weatherwise – one day sunny and warm, the next dull and raining so it’s not surprising we complain is it?

I remember the summer of 1976 (the year our youngest son was born), it was a long hot summer. The Summer of 1976 was one of the best summers ever in the UK. London had a record June temperature of 95°F (we thought in Fahrenheit then!). We had a heatwave that lasted from May to September, there was even a hosepipe ban, mind you if we get more than two days without rain here the Government always seem to say there’s a water shortage. I have never been able to understand how an Island can be short of water, go to one of the Greek Islands and there are never any restrictions on how much water you can use and the weather there is hot, hot, hot for at least six months of the year! Anyway back to Britain in 1976, I can remember the ground cracking and the tar on the road melting. In some areas people had their water supply turned off for most of the day to conserve water. Hosepipe bans were across the country and even firemen in the New Forest were told not to put out forest fires. The peak of the drought coincided with the holiday season and much of the south west of Britain could not cope with the increased demand for water.

A Drought Act was passed and half a million people in Wales suffered cuts to water supplies. Standpipes were in use in Devon. Throughout Britain people became adept in saving water, including British Rail who stopped washing their trains.Of course people complained bitterly and were happy when the rain finally arrived but it turned out to be the wettest September for 250 years – something else for us to complain about!

Anyway, in answer to the question – probably yesterday!