September

I've taken to walking at lunchtime, even though there's nowhere interesting to go in an hour and not much else to see apart from other offices and office workers. It's like Clonesville, but at least the weather is good; the slightest covering of cloud and a strong, fresh breeze.

In Ealing, West London, there are two great recreation parks separated by a crossroad in a quiet residential street. They are two of the largest, and oldest, municipal parks I'd known anywhere in suburbia. I used to work nearby and most lunch hours would complete a figure of eight around both parks by the perimeter paths, a walk which would take almost exactly the whole hour. It was a fine walk, especially if the weather was good.

A short time later, an old work-mate joined the firm. He was Polish and he came to England, via France, at a time when Poland was under communism. His command of English was really good though he still had an accent which added charm to his words and gave the simplest of statements an air of gravitas and wisdom. And he was slightly older than me, possibly by as much as ten years.

Our paths crossed in the park one day. It was mid-Summer. I'd made some remark about how good it would be to holiday in Britain, if the weather was as good as it was that day.
I remember he said immediately how, in England, in September and, sometimes, October, it could be good, also.

I wasn't aware of this at the time, in fact I was a bit dubious. I was young enough still to associate September as the month for going back to school at the end of a long Summer break. But in passing years I found my Polish friend was right. September is a fine month, also. In fact, I'm not certain it isn't my favourite month of the year.

love and hate

I hate the weather forecast. It's hopeless. It causes me to make the wrong decisions. It's supposed to rain today, it's art class this morning and I hesitated long enough to find myself on route in the car, looking at the road, looking at the sky, thinking it wasn't too bad, convincing myself it would rain come home time. But it didn't. And it still hasn't. I could have cycled after all, damn it!

But I love the new library. Despite it's hat-tip to modernity, it's seeming lack of book-shelves, and its confusing sections, for instance, IT manuals stacked below a sign which clearly says ''philosophy''. They've streamlined and automated much of the work of the librarians which means you don't have to queue. You can collect your requested books and log them out yourself, you can log them back in, and renew them too - I've just done this while the car sat on the double yellows (something I hate doing but all the short stay spaces were occupied and I wished I'd had my bike). Anyway, in and out in under five minutes. Love it!

on the weather

In England it's important to know the weather. Especially these days when I have an allotment and seven potentially free days in which to indulge myself. My browser has a quick link to the BBC-Met. Office local forecast for Gloucester - it's the closest they get. This site gives a full forecast at three hourly periods for the next 24 hours, followed by a brief forecast for the next five days. It changes hourly and most of the time fails to keep up with the weather.

Basically, it doesn't work.

But we keep persevering with it, in hope, because Brits are, as anyone who knows us will tell you, weather-obsessed. Paradoxically, we complain constantly about whatever weather we're given, too wet, too hot, too cold, too windy, and yet we're optimistic it'll improve.

I once heard a Met. Office spokesman explain how difficult it was to predict with any degree of accuracy a short-range forecast, say tomorrow or next weekend; it was much easier to do long-range ones, say in a month's time. A year hence is even better, a relative cinch. It doesn't take a genius to realise what a futile endeavour forecasting is. It will rain sometimes, we're not sure when.

All this is, in some way, confirmed in this forecast for the coming summer; it will be hotter and drier than the previous two summers. "Good news, finally", says BBC forecaster Laura Tobin. "Compared to last summer, which was miserable... it will probably be positive for the majority of people."

YIPPEE!

However, a grey cloud, the Met. Office's government services director, Rob Varley warns, "They are not forecasts which can be used to plan a summer holiday or inform an outdoor event."

Right, as you were....

Nevertheless, allotmenteers, keep your barrels filled!