78/79

I reckon your perspective on the weather to a certain extent depends on your location, in-so-far as if you live in the S/E or the East, then rain isn't so problematic, however if you live in the S/W or N/W then it gets to a point where you could'nt give a toss whether it's mild or not just so long as it's dry.

I hope for the sake of those poor devils in Cumberland that you're wrong , pretty scant consolation when your're losing all your're possessions , and live in a house which is uninhabitable and consequently uninsurable that it's 15 degrees outside. I don't recall any of the cold winter that I have experienced causing this sort of misery

Now that I'm getting close to retirement age, it may be time to seriously think about clearing off to Eastern France, where, the climate is much more seasonal , and your not at the mercy of every piece of crap the Atlantic wishes to throw at you. Somerset is a complete toilet weather wise.

Those of us who are a little older, are fortunate enough to have lived through 62/63 ( although I was quite young) Summer 76 ,Winter 78/79, plus the 80s winters.You can understand the youngsters frustration on here.

Hardly worthy of it's name really, the mind numbing mediocrity is really starting to grate on me now. All too often you get a non event Winter followed by a crap Spring, followed by a dire Summer,this country really hasn't got a lot going for it weather wise to be honest .

Quote Like this Just to step out of the back door and seeing blue skies and a dry patio would be nice ,instead of grey and wet. Somerset is'nt a good place to live if you hate mild weather and rain

Well, It hasn't been the same for months, has it? So yes, it is 'wonderfully diverse' Like this Quote All depends on your circumstances really, if you have to work outdoors in it and try to make a living, especially if you are self employed,then it's not so great. In the building trade excessive amounts of rain equate to large amounts of lost wages, nobody pays you to sit and look at the rain. I dread to think how much money I lost because of the incessant rain over a 25 year period. At least when it is cold and dry you can wrap up and carry on with something even if it's around freezing. A nice seasonal continental climate looks very inviting at the moment.

Heard someone describe our climate as being "Wonderfully diverse " that must be modern PC speak for Sh...te

Despite what the Met O regard as winter for stats purposes, In my book winter doesn't start until 21st Dec the winter solstice.and goes on until 21st March. I think people are expecting winter weather in what is in reality ,late Autumn . Back before computer models had taken on an almost god like status, we had to wait until Sunday evening for the Country file forecast, in some respects it was in someways better because you had a little bit of disappointment if the forecast wasn't what you were hoping for , but it was really great when Ian Mcaskill or Michael Fish would say" At the end of the week it's going to turn very much colder" instead of the blow by blow account that you now have

Well what's your location? NW England? if so it sounds like it could be dianne oxberry or Eno Equator Somerset, we had a good helping of the rubbish two years ago ,that;s why my heart goes out to them. We were left to get on with it for the first couple of months.

I know what you mean, I listened to the local forecast earlier, the girl gave out more of the same rubbish and then started enthusing over the as she put it " wonderfully mild temperatures" I'm sure the poor devils getting flooded out of their homes and losing practically everything are loving them as well. It just hacks me off with this constant obsession with having to put a positive spin on things You can't polish a turd.

Incessant rain in the summer ,incessant rain in the Winter same old crap , just different months

Looks great to me, I really feel sorry for the youngsters these days, down here in Somerset they haven't seen proper snow, we haven't had a proper blizzard since Jan 82, one with a howling NE wind and snow over the tops of the hedges It makes me laugh really to see the Armageddon type reaction from the media etc when we get two or three inches . I honestly think though when we do get a repeat performance, a lot of people will get very cold , because unlike then when good percentage of people still had open fires , we were still able to keep warm, unlike now where the majority of households are in the clutches of spiv utility companies. I for one wouldn't be without my stove and open fire. No power = no pumps to fire up your central heating.