Ah, good old Blighty.
The weather forecast for the last few days must have read something like:

"Rain, followed by rain, with perhaps some rain later. Periods of persistent rain are expected after the rain moves through, with perhaps the odd rainy interval. Feeling mostly wet"

Some of the roads are closed around here due to flooding, and the police are advising people to stay at home. That's an over-reaction if ever I heard one, but lots of folk will use it as an excuse to skive off work.

How's your weather today?
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Fri 4 Sep 2009, 8:22, 35 replies, latest was 16 years ago)

Roota and the Blustery Day
My flat feels like Wuthering bleeding Heights.
( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Fri 4 Sep 2009, 8:32, Reply)

I've never read any Bronte stuff
Did it rain a lot in WH then?

I know Cathy came home and was at Heathcliff's window. Well, according to Kate Bush that is.
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Fri 4 Sep 2009, 8:37, Reply)

When she comes to the window-ho-oow
It's all stormy and she's got all trees in her hair and that.
( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Fri 4 Sep 2009, 8:40, Reply)

Does he let her in?
I mean, if she's looking a mess, he might not fancy her much.
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Fri 4 Sep 2009, 8:42, Reply)

Well you know they found Heathy as a kid in Liverpool?
So when she came to the window, he actually opened it and said "Eh girl, look at the kip of ye! Go gerra spray tan an' comb the tats outa yer extensions. 'Kin 'ell..."
( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Fri 4 Sep 2009, 8:48, Reply)

Just as well she wasn't from there too
She'd just have broken the window and climbed in!
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Fri 4 Sep 2009, 8:50, Reply)

isn't that just in scotland?
I've heard it's a bit wet up there this 'summer', and sightings of arks have been reported up and down the west coast.

down here in the South East, it's a bit windy, but finally nice and cold - feels like autumn!
( ascorbate, Fri 4 Sep 2009, 8:56, Reply)

Summer this year
was two days at the beginning of July.

Actually, it's been relatively warm, but with lots of rain, so garden plants are loving it. But now it's quite cool, and still with lots of rain. And I'm not loving it.
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Fri 4 Sep 2009, 8:58, Reply)

weirdly
my parents went to orkney for a week in july and had no rain at all until they returned to the mainland. however, they did manage, whilst there to
1. both get some bad gut upset
2. have to have one of our dogs put down
3. mum was attacked by a scallop
4. dad broke a tooth
5. one of the other dogs badly injured his paw, so they had to go the vet, again.
6. puncture a tyre
and 7. go down with a cold on the last day

so I concluded from this that Scotland without rain is cursed. Cursed, I tell you!
( ascorbate, Fri 4 Sep 2009, 9:02, Reply)

Attacked by a scallop
WTF?
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Fri 4 Sep 2009, 9:07, Reply)

yes
a live scallop clamped itself on her finger whilst she was trying to prepare it for dinner. she was actually quite badly bruised by it! still hilarious though!
( ascorbate, Fri 4 Sep 2009, 9:12, Reply)

I suppose
the scallop was acting in self defence!
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Fri 4 Sep 2009, 9:48, Reply)

in all fairness
there was a period for a few weeks in June where the weather was exceptional.....that's right folks, two fucking weeks now constitutes a whole season.

i have been waiting for about 6 weeks for teh weather to be decent enough to go camping at the weekend....i'm still waiting.
(Cancer Joy was short lived, Fri 4 Sep 2009, 9:07, Reply)

People from outside the UK (and sometimes just outside Scotland)
don't believe me when I say we only get about 1 good summer per decade.

And I can list the ones I remember too:

1976
1983
1995
2006

And that's it.
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Fri 4 Sep 2009, 9:09, Reply)

bloody hell
I've only really experienced 1 decent summer in my life in scotland then! I wasn't born for the first one, was only a few months old for the second, and had moved down south by the time of the 4th!
I do rememeber a few decent summers as a child/teenager though - surely those 4 are only exceptional ones?
( ascorbate, Fri 4 Sep 2009, 9:14, Reply)

Yes, they were exceptional
insofar as they all had several weeks of good weather. Other 'good' summers have had perhaps two or three warm, rain-free weeks!
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Fri 4 Sep 2009, 9:47, Reply)

thesedays
i accept that the summer is over by mid june. i always take my holidays in late april or may. then i get my waterproofs out and bunker down for 'the summer'. I have been coming into work for the past week or so, with a bloody ski-jacket on.

the thing is though, when it IS nice up here, it is simply perfect. Always a superb mix of warmth and breeze. When i go to foreign climes i end up being a sweaty, chaffed mess.
(Cancer Joy was short lived, Fri 4 Sep 2009, 9:19, Reply)

however
when it is nice, it's exam season for some reason. I always remember the weather being stunning whilst I was stuck indoors sitting exams. from standard grades up to uni finals, always gorgeous weather over the exams.

I like the description of Scottish summertime I once read - it's when you take off one of your layers of jumpers, and your umbrella gets a tan.
( ascorbate, Fri 4 Sep 2009, 9:49, Reply)

last year
we hired a brilliant cottage beside Eilan Donan Castle, and we done the whole Skye thing etc. We also went to Applecross, up and over 'the pass of the cattle', which is the highest, driveable, moutain pass in the UK. You could have been in Austria or Switzerland, it was stunning AND it was extremely sunny and lovely. When we got to the top there was several feet of snow still lying, lovely white, virgin snow. The kids then changed into their sallopettes and wellies, which we kept in the car, and proceeded to build snowmen and lark about in this wonderful snow while the sun shone unrelentingly. It was absolutely superb.

The down on into Applecross and the temperature was up towards 25c, one excellent pub lunch later and i didn't want to leave. But over the course there are infinitely more shitty days than there are good ones, you just have to make the most of them when they happen.



edited for pictorial evidence of scotlands ability to be incredible
(Cancer Joy was short lived, Fri 4 Sep 2009, 10:16, Reply)

I
went to Skye for a climbing trip a few years ago (2007 maybe?). we stayed with family in a rented cottage on Loch Linnhe on the way, and it was absolutely torrential rain, freezing cold, bitter weather for the first few days. We were almost washed down the road on Skye, and had to stop and wait for the rain to calm down, it was so strong. Then after 3 days on skye, the clouds cleared, and we all ended up badly sunburnt after 4 days of walking and climbing.

that's just how it is in Scotland, isn't it?! I love it :-)
( ascorbate, Fri 4 Sep 2009, 10:23, Reply)

sounds great
I'm planning to go to the Hebrides next year for a holiday. Probably in May.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Fri 4 Sep 2009, 10:25, Reply)

may is the best time to go
it is exam season after all. but also, it's generally pre-midge season, which is the absolute worst thing about scottish summer.
you sit outside under umbrellas, around a soggy bonfire, getting eaten alive by midges, and looking at the mist. that's what most of my family holidays were like as a child, and my parents can't understand why we're reluctant to book a holiday with them next summer with our baby... :-)
( ascorbate, Fri 4 Sep 2009, 10:33, Reply)

I feel your pain
I've been waiting since the beginning of August for a decent, dry weekend. Fucks sake, all I want to do is get out of the city for two days and get gently monged surrounded by nature. It's not asking for much, but I've pretty much given up til next year. I don't know what it's like where you are, but it's fucking baltic here (although not *actively* raining right now, but it's forecast to later)

Your last year trip sounds lovely. I might steal it for future use..
(berk, Fri 4 Sep 2009, 10:26, Reply)

Nice pic
Looks like a car advert!
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Fri 4 Sep 2009, 10:52, Reply)

or a Top Gear photoshoot,
i got some superb pictures that day. When the rain is lashing down, i sometimes get them out and wank myself silly whilst weeping quietly.



*checks weather, reaches for photos and kleenex*
(Cancer Joy was short lived, Fri 4 Sep 2009, 10:57, Reply)

Tokyo is covered in a thick blanket
of grey cloud, which matches the grey concrete skyline nicely.
( chart cat has an itch, Fri 4 Sep 2009, 9:20, Reply)

Falmouth, Cornwall
is sunny!
( Peej, Fri 4 Sep 2009, 9:24, Reply)

Barcelona
is a cloudy, sticky, hot city this morning
(bamboozled Can hear you getting fatter, Fri 4 Sep 2009, 10:17, Reply)

Exeter is blue skied and sunny
it was caning down with rain early this morning though.

I'm predicting a spell of decent weather from next week onwards. You should all be prepared for it.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Fri 4 Sep 2009, 10:25, Reply)

I would love it
if it rained here, really.

I haven't seen any in so long i've almost forgotten what it looks like.
(bamboozled Can hear you getting fatter, Fri 4 Sep 2009, 10:38, Reply)

I went to Barcelona a few years back
think it was in June, and it rained almost non-stop. Which was rather annoying.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Fri 4 Sep 2009, 10:51, Reply)

Is that rain you're talking about
or something else?
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Fri 4 Sep 2009, 10:51, Reply)

if by
something else, you mean ym - then no. It's impossible NOT to see her
(bamboozled Can hear you getting fatter, Fri 4 Sep 2009, 11:08, Reply)

it's rained here so much in the last two weeks,
that it's flooded the rivers, one of them to the point where a wee fishing platform two metres above the water normally was completely under by a good foot.
And the backyard's got about an inch of water all over it.
Tanks are full. Is good.
(Poppet some assembly required., Fri 4 Sep 2009, 12:19, Reply)

Fair to say it's pissing down here.
I'm just glad we chose last Friday to go the Edinburgh for the day and not today.
( Tourette's ( . )( . ) has a monkey hair in her fried egg, Fri 4 Sep 2009, 12:37, Reply)