British Summer Update

As you may or may not have heard, thanks to El Nina (the miserable cow) we in Blighty are currently enduring a summer of frankly depressing rain and cloud, with a few precious moments of sunshine to remind us what we are missing. And depressing is indeed the word, as this is apparently due to persistent periods of low pressure smack bang over Birmingham, which the Gulf Stream would normally shove up towards Iceland. According to predictions at the beginning of this month, this year's summer was due to last one day, on 15th July.

Well, they weren't far wrong, as yesterday brought unprecedented levels of sunshine (i.e. a few hours), and today the mercury shot up to a sultry 26C, albeit accompanied by a great deal of cloud and a serious amount of humidity. And someone appears to have told the insect world. For the stage was set for one of the British Summer's particular annual events. Hottest day of the year? Swamp-like atmospheric conditions? It must be time for... Flying Ant Day!

As I trudged through the fetid air of East London this afternoon, listening to the distant rumble of thunder, I found myself swatting away quite a few of the little blighters, buzzing fatly through Lewis's gated development and no doubt wondering where the fields had gone. It wasn't on the scale of previous gatherings, but Flying Ant Day was definitely brewing. Twenty minutes later the heavens opened and the puddles were filled with ants sadly trying to employ their useless cumbersome wings as flippers. The dolphins and the polar bears might get all the media attention, but the ants were victims of climate change all the same.

So there you are: just the sort of milestone event I thought you shouldn't miss out on simply by dint of living several thousand miles away.