There was something horribly depressing, she felt, about watching the weather report.

 That life could be planned like the perfect summer picnic drained it of spontaneity...

Galt Niederhoffer, The Romantics

I think we British are worse then ever on Bank Holiday weekends, poring over forecasts as though it mattered a great deal. As though life might come to a standstill because it's raining.

Why SHOULD the weather be sunny on Bank Holidays? It's not a God-given right, is it?

As it happens, this weekend the weather IS pretty good.

Oh, we must dash out immediately and enjoy ourselves by the seaside.

By Muriel Delahaye

We British really know how to have a good time.

One day you stepped in snow, the next in mud...

 water soaked in your boots and froze them at night, it was the next worst thing to pure blizzardry, it was weather that wouldn't let you settle.― E.L.Doctorow, Welcome to Hard Times

What IS it with this weather at the moment? Come ON, it's nearly the end of March.

This morning, on the forest with Alfie, Serena and Ripple, it rained...then it snowed...then it sleeted...and the wind blew...

It was not too pleasant. I dared to say this when I came in, fingers frozen to the bone - and Peter said, tartly, 'Well, it's not obligatory to go for a ride.' Fair point, but...(insert own thoughts here)

So here's a song to cheer us up:

Even if it IS meant to be spring.

Hey, ho the wind and the rain

Guess what the weather's doing today? Here's a little clue: I'm not wearing a bikini and a sun hat.

Feste's song from Twelfth Night, sung by the incomparable Alfred Deller. That's what the title says. (Alfred Deller is certainly incomparable but I've always been in two minds about counter-tenors. They sound somehow unnatural.)

Beautiful song anyway.

I just came across a website called 'English at home' which has a page entitled 'Talking about the weather in English'

It begins 'British people often start a conversation with strangers and friends by talking about the weather' and continues 'Although British people like to complain about bad weather, they generally put a brave face on it.'


Surely not! I just think that is total and utter racial stereotyping.

I forget to say, this downpour will do wonders for my rhubarb!

If you don't like the weather, wait a minute

Or, in this case, if you DO like the weather, wait a minute.

Today is a beautiful, spring-like day, sunny and mild. Some of my daffodils have come into flower.

I did try to warn them not to be so foolhardy but would they listen? They're plainly confused, lulled into a false sense of security by The Weather. I know what's going to happen...

 They will DIE...

"Weather is a great bluffer. I guess the same is true of our human society -- things can look dark, then a break shows in the clouds, and all is changed," said E.B.White, better known for writing Charlotte's Web

I think I've used this Oscar Wilde quotation before:

"Conversation about the weather is the last refuge of the unimaginative."

Yup! After yesterday I'm definitely erring on the side of unimaginative. Here is an X-ray of my skull:

Normal service may be resumed at some point...