The strangest of weather

Monday 30th July

Today (Sunday) has been the strangest of weather, sunny, squally, hot, cold, pouring, bright sunshine again, thunder and lightning, cold and hot and sunny again.  I know that the weather people told us to expect changeable weather, but how many times in one day are we supposed to watch it change.  It actually makes it quite difficult to do anything; if you were planning a barbecue you might get soaked, if you had given up on mowing the lawn because it was wet, you haul yourself off the sofa, drag out the mower, go in for the extension lead and while your back is turned the downpour begins, so you drag the mower back in, slump down on the sofa again, and glancing out of the window see the sun pulling through those grey clouds and before you know it the hot weather is here again.  Mind you, I am hardly complaining; at least we are seeing a few momentary glimpses of sunshine, and last week was splendid.  After three and a half months of rain we deserve a little sunshine, only can it just be a bit more constant.  I have just travelled back from Suffolk, where the fields are already being harvested; so much for the permanent farmers complaint; this year it was that the rain had ruined the crops.  When I was a child we used to begin harvesting in mid-August and it was still going on in September, but this year it could be over by the end of next week, barely into August at all.  At least the rain has been good for something.

And now the whole world can watch and be frustrated and cheered up by the vagaries of the English weather, as it is there for all to see in the Olympics.