This afternoon, temperatures are set to be hotter than at any time since yesterday afternoon. Even at 5:00 this morning, the sun strength was greater than at any time in the previous eight hours. This is likely to be the hottest and driest 19 July 2006 on record. We live in remarkable times, boys and girls.
Like all work-shy, not-enough-to-worry-about, Guardian-reading liberals, I’m incredibly concerned by the implications of global warming, not least the distinct possibility that it may have been caused largely by our own misuse of the planet. But can’t we just have some of this for a couple of months every year, without the nasty side-effects of global famine, floods and mass species extinction? If we promise to be well-behaved and put up with several weeks of slate-grey skies and sleet in the winter? Please, Mr Weather Deity, sir?
(Hang on… it hasn’t rained here in south-east England since 1937. If there’s any melted polar ice-caps going spare, we could make use of them.)
What is it about this country and the weather? We have a temperate maritime climate, and although our weather is changeable, it’s always polite and unassuming, never reaching extremes. Yet when it snows, our schools close, our motorways close and our public transport system grinds to a halt. When it’s unusually hot, our office air-conditioners fail, our roads melt and our public transport system grinds to a halt. When the leaves fall in autumn, our public transport system grinds to a halt.
I suspect it’s because we’re all too aware of the mild, non-threatening reputation of our weather. When building roads, railways or offices, it’s all too easy to quote our national winter and summer averages of 5 and 15 degrees and plan accordingly.
We also seem to suffer from an inability to make individual choices based on comfort. Now that’s partly down to meaningless social pressures (why anyone would allow their employer to dictate that they wear a collar and tie at all, never mind in summer, baffles me completely) but there’s also an inbuilt conservatism and lack of self-determination. I’ve boarded trains on hot summer days, to find a carriage full of sweaty people, none of whom has taken the initiative to open the windows. And the converse… cocooned by our ever-growing car culture and over-heated houses, people seem quite offended to find that a t-shirt and trackie bottoms just aren’t suitable for ambling down the High Street in January.
“This is likely to be the hottest and driest 19 June 2006″
June?
Oh, well spotted! Would you like a job in the Spaghetti Factory quality control department? ;-)