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Last week was spot on, time to kick this miserable excuse for a winter into touch . Had enough of cold rain and freezing my b........ks off at work now. I've got plenty of work that I need to get done,

Fair enough, that's me well and truly spanked then

We certainly don't need another bout of this wind and rain crud. Structures, trees, etc have already been seriously weakened by yesterdays helping.

I've seen some sh...te winters in my time, but even for this godforsaken island this one ranks with the worst of them.

Winter or Summer, our climate doesn't really have much going for it.

At almost 62, I can at least say that I have lived through some memorable winters. Unlike the pathetic offerings that occur these days.

Oh joy, yet another morning of slate grey skies and poxy rain. About as much use as a chocolate fireguard.

Remember working outside during my apprenticeship during Dec 78 through to March 79, it was ,,,,,kin cold I can tell you. Your hands got so cold it almost brought tears to your eyes when they came back to life. 8 hours with that E/N/E blowing on you was no joke. We had one good blizzard on new years eve. 87 was notable for the intensity of the cold around here, rather than snow fall. The ground was frozen solid , we couldn't work for about a fortnight, being self employed , no work = no money coming in. It's o.k for a week or so, but anything longer causes real problems for some people, especially the homeless I shudder to think what it must be like for them.

Not a bad start to the day here, a little cloud, but dry. Next week looks a tad iffy work wise, but hopefully shouldn't be too bad.

My favourite time of the year, warm without being oppressively hot, sloes all picked for the Christmas Gin, plus 2 lb of Blackberries this afternoon for Blackberry and Apple Tarts. I don't mind the evenings drawing in , its nice to get home draw the blinds and put me feet up.

Seem to remember that it was tried out in the late 60 s/ early 70s. It wasn't that popular, especially in Scotland, where it didn't get light until about 9am . The kids were going to school in the dark.

In about another 4 hours or so this poxy Summer will be dead , and buried . Good riddance to bad rubbish.

Coming up to Norfolk for a break for 4 days from the 6th , A bit of sunshine would be just the job Pete.

The wife has lost all of hers to blight.

Roll on September and Autumn, had my fill of this miserable apology for a Summer now,

I noticed the sloes are starting to turn colour Pete, quite early really.

Anyone who says that they actually like this poxy weather wants to try f******' working in it.

Think you're right, this is my 62nd Summer, and to be honest I can't recall that many memorable ones. One thing the BBC weather is good at is t..rd polishing. They get plenty of practice.

Must admit, work wise I find this weather particularly irritating. I endure it Autumn, Winter.,and Spring. Quite naively I generally hope for better in what could loosely be called Summer in this country.

Watched the BBC Weather yesterday evening. After listening to 2 or 3 minutes of waffle, I thought to myself she could have condensed the whole thing into 3 words. "It's absolute sh.... te.

Bit of a strange question, but does anyone suffer with sinus headaches when the air pressure drops?. I do , these last few days have played havoc with me.

Speaking personally I quite like the onset of the darker evenings, by Sept I've had enough of waking up at 5.30 am, together with swapping one load of work for another when I get home. From October it's a case of get in, have dinner and put my feet up for the evening.

Quite looking forward to September,/October you can have some really nice weather without the oppressive heat.

Wouldn't have the energy or motivation these days Pete . There's more go in a bottle of lemonade .

Must admit it will be nice to have a bit of a cool down. It's been pretty unbearable working outside in the heat. On average I've shifted , mixed up for, and layed about a ton of stone per day . I've been knocking off at 2pm all this week.