Wednesday 4 July 2012

British Summer

As others have noted, summer = road works season.

The road works that I was having to climb over last week are still there, despite the fact that they were supposed to finish on Friday.  Now, however, they have decided to make life easier for me.


I now have a little bridge to cross!

Wonderful!


The British are famous for lots of things - Empire building, claiming victory in wars that were really won by others, bad food, queueing. (Please add more in the comments section!)   Probably the thing we are most famous for is complaining about the weather.

Too hot, too cold, too windy, too wet, too dry, too sunny...

People must really hate British tourists. 

We go to Florida and say "It's a bit hot for me."

We go to Singapore in Monsoon season and say "The rain was terrible!"  (No shit, Sherlock!)

We go to Lappland to see Santa Claus and complain about the cold!

Yesterday seemed to be a day that no one could complain about.


You didn't really notice the temperature (not hot, not cold), there was a bit of a breeze, it was not raining but there was a hint of something in the air (unless it was just the birds peeing on me), the clouds prevented the sun being too bright but they weren't so thick that the day felt totally dreary.

A day of non-weather, in fact.

Surely, no one could complain.

Guess what?

By 9.30 I had heard the first complaint of the day...

Shame that complaining about the weather is not an Olympic Sport!  No one else would get a look in, we would bet Gold, Silver and Bronze!

Hope you are enjoying the weather where you are!

PS  Happy 4th of July to my American friends.  No hard feelings!  :-)

12 comments:

Reggie Hunnicutt said...

Thanks....I felt awkward reading your blog seeing it was independence day.

terri said...

The British sound a lot like Minnesotans. Since we have all four seasons here, we have plenty to complain about. In fact, we are currently in a stretch of mid-ninety degree weather with a thick layer of humidity. We complain about the cold all winter long, then when we get to this point, we complain that it's too "sticky" to enjoy the day. (I'll take this over winter any day, but I'll still complain.)

Rock Chef said...

wReggie - that's good - don't want you feeling bad on a day like this! :-)

Terri - Ooh, is this a challenge to our Olympic glory???!!!!! But yes, I think the extremes that you face allow a bit of complaining.

ShadowRun300 said...

It must just be in our nature to complain. I hate our winters around here, but now it's been over 100 degrees for 3 weeks and no rain. I'm trying hard NOT to complain though, because like Terri said, I'll take this over winter any day.
4th of July marks the starting of my work week... so no real celebration here... but I'm in the midst of it all! Thanks for thinkin' of us and not holding a grudge. :)

Rock Chef said...

ShadowRun300 - Yes, you get far more extreme weather than we get here - colder winters, hotter summers. We tend to bob between the 80s and just below freezing... Hope you can catch some celebration while at work!

agg79 said...

Everyone complains about the weather. It's the universal language. Of course, down here we don't get much of a winter, just 8 months of heat and humidity. But like Terri and SR300, I'll take warm days over weeks of shoveling snow and driving on ice.

Happy 4th to you too! I hope it is not too hot/cool/wet/dry/windy/dreary for your daily commute. Thanks for being a good sport to us colonists.

Abby said...

Not far from our neighborhood is one that seems dedicated to England. There's London Fog Drive, Tartan Drive, Boleyn Drive, Wedgewood Park... just to name a few. I've often wondered why this "little England" exists in the middle of hot, dry Colorado.

Happy just-another-Wednesday to you!

Rock Chef said...

Agg79 - Yes, we have the odd week or so of snow here, but I can't imagine having it for months on end.

Abby - Are the houses designed to look English too? Black and white timber frame or something? I love the way place names get replicated in the US, with or without "New" added in front.

Shammickite said...

The weather is a huge topic of conversation here in S Ontario, Canada, too. Right now it's VERY HOT! We grumble all winter about the intense cold and remember July fondly, and then grumble all summer about the heat and count the days until the temperature drops a bit. Today? 33C. With high humidity. As most Canadians will say... "Hot enough for ya?"

Rock Chef said...

Shammickite - Hi! 33 is plenty hot enough for me, thanks! Hoping to experience some Canadian heat when I visit Edmonton next year!

CiCi said...

Glad there are no hard feelings about our fourth of July. I am fortunate to be in a place with good air conditioning, which does not come on a lot, just enough to keep it comfortable for me. I am actually enjoying the talk about the weather here in Nebraska. It is so different from living in San Diego where there really didn't need to be a weather person on the TV or radio. The weather was the same most days. Here the farmers want rain and the kids want snow and we all want the changes of seasons. Do you think people get in the habit of complaining about weather and don't realize it?

Adamscott said...

I absolutely liked reading everything that is posted on your blog keep the posts coming. I enjoyed it.