Friday 6th July 2012

Or the year without a summer.

Another week and another week of rain and low temperatures. Or, mostly. Down here in Kent we have seen some sun, and the wind had dropped enough for it to be positively humid in the evening and we have even sat on the patio taking in the evening sun. Occasionally.

It has been unusually wet, exceptionally so at times and in some places. Records show that we have had three wettest April, May, Junes on record since records began in 1910. And the three month period has also been the wettest on record too. We have had unseasonal storms and strong winds, ruining some sensitive plants in our garden, once again the quinces are going to be a dead loss. On Wednesday morning the weather forecaster on Radio 4 stated that this unsettled weather was going to continue for a week, and probably the rest of the month. I am sceptical as sometimes getting the next day’s forecast is so wrong, how can they be so sure about what the weather is going to be like in four week’s time. According to the BBC website, this is because of the high temperatures in US are affecting the jet stream is now much further south than normal, thus generating low pressures. And this sort of weather pattern takes a long time to change, hence the forecast of no change for weeks.



We shall see.

And today, Friday, we have had steady rain for ten hours here in East Kent, but Wales and the Midlands are expecting three to four inches of rain today, coming after three months of rain means more flooding.



And so this week has rushed by, oddly at work I have been in a kind of limbo as we have had six months of work writing a contractual document for the next project; it had to be completed by last Friday. We did that and now wait for the feedback. So, for 5 days at least, we have been able to do other stuff.

Which is nice.

And of course we have had no football to watch. Although, the football season did begin on Wednesday, although you could be forgiven for missing that, as it was just the very preliminary rounds of the Champions and Europa Leagues. But, the new season is just round the corner, and most of the country says ‘already?’.



Anyway, the summer of sofa sports continues with the final few days of Wimbledon, and Andy Murray is in the final/fell once again at the semi-final stage *delete as appropriate. The Tour de France is heading into the mountains this weekend, I have watched two stages, and as ever I enjoyed the passing of the countryside slide past. And then the countdown to the opening of the Olympic Games goes into the final three weeks, and I hope to go down to when the touch passes through Dover on the 18th and maybe take a few photographs. We shall see.