The past 3 summers in the UK have pretty much well been washed out. Each May there were about 2 weeks of gloriously warm weather in which all the BBQ sellers in the UK collectively declare ‘It’s going to be a BBQ summer!’ (Hey they have to sell there product somehow!) after which we have had 3 months on consistent, if not torrential, rain! I think BBQ sellers in the UK are like the Groundhog in Punxsutawney . If a BBQ seller, or indeed the Met Office announce it will be a BBQ Summer in May then guaranteed it will rain for the next 3 months ;-). If they come out of their hole and don’t see their shadow (or announce that it is going to be a BBQ summer) then the chances are it will be a summer of searing dead flesh on the GAS burner BBQ! If you use coal you have too much time on your hands! Use gas instead and use your time for something constructive like writing a blog! OK maybe I sould switch to coal ;-). Also maybe the pros and cons of gas vs coal BBQ's should be discussed in a seperate blog entry!
Anyway this year, as far as I was aware, there were no BBQ sellers, no-one from the Met Office and indeed no groundhogs that declared it would be a BBQ summer! So what has happened? Well until yesterday, no rain for 2 months! Well there could have been the odd shower or two, but barely enough precipitation to dampen the ground. Yesterday that all changed with a torrential downpour of the likes that we had become used to over the past three summers. A real tropical downpour with thunder, lighting and roads turning into temporary rivers. Mon was even stuck in the bus stop on her way home ill from work! Not a great place to be :-(, but that's how heavy the rain was. Although the rain was not particularly a great friend of the ill travelling home the garden has been a huge fan of the downpour! It has picked up so much in the past 24 hours, showing it’s vast appreciation to the rain gods. The garden is so much happier than it was prior to the rain. I too am far happier as my bone dry and suffering garden is happier! We are sharing the joy! I am dangerously becoming a little too connected to the well being of my garden Na' vi style ;-)
In the two months running up to the rain, that had people thinking about the location of their nearest arc builder, it was a constant worry about when the next rain would be. I am on a water meter, and although water is not seriously expensive, growing up in Australia you realise what an important resource water actually is. Also with the talk of hose pipe bans starting in other areas of the country it feels a bit weird being flippant with water and endlessly watering the garden. So I was constantly checking the weather for the past two months hoping for rain. This is a 180 degree turnaround from the previous 3 years when most people, myself included, were trawling weather websites for long distance forecasts in order to see when the rain would possibly end! Typically the answer was ‘Never, go to the Mediterranean for your holiday’!
For three years I was praying for elongated periods of sun. This year I have been praying for heavy rain! Yesterday the Gods of rain finally relented and gave the garden owners of the Southern UK a break! Apologies for you folks that don’t own a garden for putting a temporary end to your summer holiday weather, but seriously folks the rain was needed! Last year I would have rejoiced in no rain for two months. This year I am rejoicing that the dry spell has finally ended!
Don’t get me wrong though, and the folks who sort out the rain I hope you are still listening! This does not mean that I want the rain to continue endlessly! It still is summer and we could do with some more warm and sunny weather to be getting on with! Please don’t put an end to the joy! What might be nice though is if you could please just make it rain between 2am and 3:00am lets say once every 4 days? That would be perfect thanks! For those of you who might be enjoying a camping trip in the area, let me know where you are based and I will try to ensure your specific area won’t get hit. Would be good though if you could move once in a while so certain areas don’t miss out on the rain! Thanks.
So for now though, remember the Aeroguard and avagoodweekend!
Cheers
m
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