weather - summer 2011

[mark smyth]

This week was supposed to have been very wet but we only had rain rain, all day, on Thursday with thunder and lightning. It's been warm every day around 20c.

[angie]

This week was supposed to have been very wet but we only had rain rain, all day, on Thursday with thunder and lightning. It's been warm every day around 20c.

Mark it's really heavy rain here, shower after shower. I think we are getting what Inverness have been having. Not good for golf    that's coming from a golf widow.

Angie

[Maggi Young]

Yes, absolutely torrential rain here.... I wouldn't mind but it's interfering with our satellite signal for the TV coverage of Le Tour de France. 

[Neil]

   Yes we went to Hampton Court Flower Show on Thursday, it was torrential rain from 10.05am till just before 3, The whole place was turning into a quagmire.  Which tend of ruined the day for us didn't really get a good look at the gardens.  Oh well there is always next year.

[David Nicholson]

I wonder if we have entered an era where proper summers are part of the past and dry springs and wet summers are part of the future?

[Michael J Campbell]

proper summers

When did we get those?

[David Nicholson]

Michael, I seem to remember when I was a lad that summers were always hot and sunny!

[Anthony Darby]

Middle of winter here. Yesterday was 18^oC and this (Sunday) morning, at 9.30, I saw a monarch butterfly being buffeted by the wind as it flew off.

[Lesley Cox]

All right, don't rub it in. Bitter wind here and rain then frost overnight.

[Anthony Darby]

Sorry Lesley, but you can feel sorry for me having to wait for Lucy to finish her violin lesson (from 11 - 12) sitting at a table outside the coffee shop next door to her music school with a long mocha (the 'o' pronounced as in hockey!!!) and ginger slice reading Peter Scott's autobiography "The Eye of the Wind".

[angie]

Middle of winter here. Yesterday was 18^oC and this (Sunday) morning, at 9.30, I saw a monarch butterfly being buffeted by the wind as it flew off.

Wow Anthony that's summer temperatures for us. You will be still in shorts and t.shirt. Brilliant.
We were nearly washed away yesterday.

Angie

[Lesley Cox]

What a life eh? I really DO feel sorry for you Anthony as you'll be going soft quickly. Ginger slice is nice.

Were you a Peter Scott fan? I was brought up with two original paintings in the house. They belonged to my late brother Donald who died when I was just 13 and he was 21. (He had Duchenne's Syndrome). My sister has them now.

[Anthony Darby]

Yes. I grew up with Peter Scott and have several signed books, including the one I'm currently reading. I really enjoyed the "Faraway Look" programmes and have those books too. I met him in 1970 when he was guest of honour at the 10th anniversary gala day at Worldwide Butterflies in Sherborne, Dorset and visited Slimbridge in its early days. There was going to be a huge celebration of "Peter Scott at 80" (there's even a book of that title), but he died two weeks before his birthday in August 1989. I have a signed print, which is the nearest I'll get to owning a painting.

[Lesley Cox]

As a painter he's almost unknown here but of course his Pa was well connected to NZ, starting off from Christchurch, I think for the southward journey.

[Anthony Darby]

Yes, there is a statue of Captain R F Scott in Christchurch sculpted by his wife. There's also a memorial to the five who died on the return journey in a south window in the choir at Dunblane Cathedral. I've read several accounts of the attempt on The Pole. The unknown factor has worked in my favour. A signed copy of "Observations of Wildlife" is £200 in the UK. I got one for $20 here.