British summertime
Tuesday, July 29, 2008 A Forest colleague - who has just returned to her native California - emails to say that while she will miss "the excitement of living in the big city", she won't miss the "brutal London weather".
"London weather," she writes, "is unpredictable. I hate walking out of the house on a crisp, sunny morning in a light jumper and by afternoon everything's clouded over and I've been soaked by torrential rain. The grey skies really affect my mood. So it's not that I hate the rain, it's the fact that one day can be pleasantly warm and the next is a downpour.
"California," she adds, "is almost consistently mild and sunny, with a scattering of rain and slightly colder weather in the winter, though it does depend on geographical location, ie San Diego near the beach would be a few degrees colder than the Sacramento Valley where the surrounding mountains trap the hot air.
"For a Californian, a string of sunny days broken up by a rainy one is a massive disappointment. Maybe that sums up my attitude to British weather, as every sunny day feels like a gift!"
By coincidence, her email arrived yesterday while my son was playing for his district cricket team (U13s). The game began in bright sunshine under a cloudless blue sky. It was baking hot. Ruari (my son) opened the batting and made 97. (He was was eventually caught at slip, three runs short of his maiden century.) The team went on to make 226-9 in 40 overs. Victory, it seemed, was in the bag.
Er, not quite. Between innings the ground was hit by torrential rain. Players and spectators ran for cover. After a delay the sun shone again, the wicket dried out, and the teams took the field. But not for long. Two short, sharp showers later, the match was abandoned.
British weather. Don't you just love it.
Reader Comments (3)
An unfortunate subject for the day that many Southern Californians had a different reason for "running for cover".
It measured 5.4 on the Richter scale!
Wonderful place, Kalifornia...
...regular devastating forest fires;
...the constant threat that San Andreas will, at any time, deliver "The Big One";
...and the homeland of the founding fathers of all of the world's public smoking bans;
I must confess, I did spend a couple of days in LA in 1989 - and fell in love with the place!
I wouldn't go back now though, for obvious reasons, and I would recommend anyone to Google for "Loma Linda" City, and see what sort of smoking ban they have just introduced!
If it's in California today, folks, it will be coming to a town near you soon!
Loma Linda City, I read it Brian.
What utter nonsense.If that was true smoking would be worse than a nuclear attack.But some people will belive anything they are fed.
I love the British weather. Where else in the world can you get four seasons in one day?
My dad used to say that Britain was a "nation of moaners" and the weather gives us all a reason to winge.
My mum used to say that it was only the British who talked about the weather so much.
Would I swap today's downpours for California's zealotry and clear blue skies? Absolutely not!