Was That the Summer?

It is said that British people like to talk about the weather - it is definitely true, perhaps because we get a lot of weather and it varies from one minute to the next. In many other countries they build appropriately. For instance in Sweden the houses are well insulated. The US pioneered Air conditioning to cope with the hot, muggy Summers. What do the Brits do - talk about it. Our houses aren't well insulated, we rarely have air-conditioning (a good thing - not very eco-friendly), except in cars. Our weather is quite changeable though, due in part to being an Island. When I used to travel frequently to Japan weather was always a good starting topic of conversation in a business meeting. Mind you their weather seems to be a bit more extreme than ours it can get very hot in the Summer and the typhoons can be quite amazing.

We have just had some really hot weather (25+C-ish), but as a typical Brit you have to complain when it gets too hot, but as I reminded myself it was nowhere near as hot as when I was cycling from Bangkok to Saigon last November. It is great to be able to pop out in t-shirt, shorts and sandals weather for a ride into the countryside or to pop into town to do some chores.

The weather has changed though, we have had windier weather along with some torrential (for the UK) downpours and thunderstorms. We do need some rain because it is quite noticeable how much irrigation is needed in the fields. I do find it that little bit more difficult to get out when the weather can be sunny one minute and wet the next. I got caught in a downpour yesterday and sheltered at the side of the road under some trees. Unfortunately the road started flooding and the cars and buses whizzing caused huge splashes. Car drivers just do not give a thought for the pedestrians, perhaps they think they are wet enough. Actually they just don't give a thought. Whilst standing in the relative shelter several ambulances came by. It amazed me how dozy some drivers are - this was at a set of traffic lights and car drivers would drive into the middle of the junction and then freeze causing maximum problems for the ambulance drivers. I also found myself being overtake by cars just to have them pull in across me because the road ahead was slightly blocked by parked cars. I think that they need to explicitly teach and test drivers ability to read the road ahead and PLAN accordingly.

Enough ranting whilst out in the Fens - near Wicken Fen I came across some Delphiniums (I think) growing in a field.

As you can see the crops in the fields are ripening well - let's hope that the rains don't batter them down too much and make harvesting difficult.

One advantage of the changed weather is that skies are a little more interesting in photographs.

I rather like blue skies and wispy clouds.

When out cycling one thing that annoys me is when road works do not take into account the needs of cyclists. Well I was amazed when cycling along White Fen Drove along one of the Wicken Fen Vision routes to see the following signs. Now this is a road that has one farm-house along it and the traffic consists of a small number of walkers, cyclists and dog owners driving along it as they walk their dogs. It is less than 1 Km/ 0.75 miles long well this sign went up around 7 days before giving plenty of advance notice, followed by the smaller white pages with specific advice for cyclists and walkers. It is good to see an understanding that roads are not exclusively the territory of cars, lorries and buses.

A week later I cycled out to see if the road works had started. They had and I can see why the signs were put up - the road-mending machines were as wide as the little road. Perhaps they see this as a sort of bicycle-way (like a motor-way for bikes!) and have decided to deploy the heavy duty equipment - I look forward to cycling along this bit of road when it is finished.