laserguy

Last time I went camping it just happened to be in August. Been on the bike all day and had to pitch up somewhere/anywhere quickly, as darkness was falling. Ended up about fifty yards from a cliff edge in Fishguard, just as a 'hurricane' was blowing in off the Atlantic. Spent half the night trying to stop the tent blowing away in horizontal rain. But I loved every minute of it!!! No compromise I want wind and rain all the time, whatever I'm doing,wherever I'm going. That's cos' I'm hardcore,me. Seriously wouldn't bother me in the least if I never saw the disc of the sun again for the rest of my days.

Thanks, but it's around this date that I stop looking at sunset/sunrise tables. When that happens, I'm satisfied that summer is all but dead and Autumn is as good as here.

After a dreadful June and July, August is turning out better than I ever dared to hope. Why, today has been windier than anything January could muster. Long may it continue, but as these things tend to go I fear I will be paying a heavy price in October....

"should the rise in greenhouse gas emissions continue........" Whodathunkit?

That's exactly how it was when I was a kid! Remember going to bed and the sheets were so cold that it took ten minutes to get into bed cos you had to get used to the shock on every inch of your skin? Once under the blankets you'd pull them over your head then start breathing hard in an attempt to warm the air inside. Ice that would be half an inch thick on the inside of the window at the bottom of the pane, thinning out into filligree patterns further up, where you could just about see the frozen world outside. This is why we had such long hair in the 70's - for insulation not some fashion whim - that was just an excuse. Young uns these days dunt know they're born. As time goes by ( I'm an old git now) I'm becoming less tolerant of warmth and more so of cold - which seems to be the reverse of how things usually go....

Now this is weird. Cutting the grass is a chore I could really do without, and that's just what's happened over the last 6 - 7 weeks. Had to cut it every fortnight last year. This summer has had loads of sun and warmth and there has hardly been drought conditions, but the grass, whilst looking healthy enough, has simply stopped growing. I ain't complaining, but what gives??

For the record, I'm 5'10", eleven and a half stones and of 'slight' build, so my intolerance of heat and indifference to cold have nothing to do with an excess of natural wadding! But I was raised in near-poverty and the decrepit house had virtually no heating....

Ye - that's exactly what I meant. No doubt there's some warm,maybe even hot days to come but the true summer 'feel' is over for this year. Not been home from work long, and I can tell you it was pretty nippy just half an hour ago. The first time since spring that the car windows were obscured with heavy condensation. Seems odd to remember just how hot August can be, given the current conditions.

Today is 'that' day when everything conspires to mark the end of summer. The look/feel/smell/mood/atmosphere etc has entered a new dynamic - there's no looking back now. The gathering momentum of Autumn has delivered a blow which has left summer on the ropes, which may or may not attempt a fightback but which is ultimately doomed to fail. Good riddance, I say.

Being immune to 'cold' and reluctant to check the thermometer every five minutes, I can tell when the indoor temp has fallen below 14C when my beer stops fermenting. Rectifying that regrettable situation via a heating belt and insulation is a damn sight easier than trying to cool the stuff down when the temp exceeds 21C. The yeast is as intolerant of that as I am - and they aren't governed by moods....

Actually, in my opinion it does - just as someone thinks I'm "insecure, desperate and pathetic" for having a different viewpoint. How's about flagging that one up?

There y'go - by inference my tolerance of cold and intolerance of warm just shows how macho I am. That alright for ya 'cheese'? How's the knitting/flower arranging etc going? My ma-in-law is such a womanly woman that she had the heating on during July's rude warmth - it is permanently set at 30C and she still moans about being cold whilst everyone else is mooching around like slobbering wrecks. Still up after doing nights so bedtime fairly soon - gonna chuck all the crap outta the fridge and climb in there for me kip as it's still shockingly warm (the weather,not the fridge) . I'm still traumatised that grown men are actually contemplating firing up the heating.... in August. Unbelievable.

It's utter madness, akin to sunbathing in January. August is never,ever cold or even remotely chilly - it's all relative, even the coolest August day in the UK known to all of humanity can only be relatively so. Bonkers, totally bonkers but some people say it's just me reckoning to be a hard nut and beating my hairy chest. Honest, you gotta laugh.

That's what I like best - the 'dynamic' of it, instead of the tedium and monotony of solstice ( 'sun stands still' - or summat to that effect) when nothing appears to change for weeks on end. Mind you, I'd be happy for the winter solstice to last forever - the increasing daylight after that fills me with a sense of dread.

Me too - like making petrol a penny a gallon so's I could run a whacking great 8ltr, V12 American muscle car with, er hold on, I'm barking up the wrong tree aren't I?

Must be all that testosterone coursing thru' my veins - I recommend you grow some testicular appendages if you're feeling cold in August, either that or get some bread 'n' taties downt' neck. And I ain't trying to prove a thing - just telling it how it is. If my grannies were still alive I'd get one of 'em to knit a cardie for you.

I blame all this global warming malarkey - it's making some folk soft in the body as well as the head.

It's the 13th of August and folk are on about having the heating on. This is some kind of a wind-up,right? I've been working outside in a t-shirt half the night and it's boiling... while folk indoors are saying it's chilly. In fact it's too absurd to think about. Come back sometime in December and maybe we'll talk.

But you're not at school anymore. I can't wait for my kid and his dreadful mates to go back - they're really doing my nut already. Dunno if my memory is on the blink, but when I was at school the first week back always seemed to be ridiculously hot and sunny...

Nah it's still summer unfortunately, but I now know where and when to go to a place not too far away when the going gets tough, where the location/geography and flora combine to produce a stunning illusion that autumn is here. Still, it'll only be a few weeks before that place is no longer special as everywhere else will have joined in the fun.

Energised from last night's walk in the rain, I was up bright and early today to be greeted by a wonderfully fresh, breezy morning. Decided to get the mo'bike out and take advantage of the moment before the roads became cluttered with commuters. I'd done 70 miles before most folk would have had breakfast, such was the fun I was having. Only a week ago, riding the bike in helmet and leathers was an unpleasant experience - today's outing was so comfortable and with such perfect conditions that the essence of motorcycling was crystallised flawlessly in that short time. For the first time since the start of this summer I actually felt alive and with the acute awareness of bright red blood pumping thru' every vein - motorcyclists everywhere will relate to that special feeling. Pulled up at one point by the shores (?) of Winscar reservoir and by God it was Autumn 100% there. So utterly compelling was the idea that summer had fully deserted that place at that moment that I instinctively started looking for psilocybes - a trait of mis-spent youth which hasn't fully gone away. My failure to find any reminded me of the tricks nature is capable of pulling and that it was indeed still summer, and autumn had briefly visited that place just for me at that moment - a sneak preview of what's to come. Summer hasn't quite done with us yet and I've a horrible feeling that there may be a nasty surprise or two to come, but I don't care that much anymore - I tasted the promised land this morning, and it was beautiful.

Gaaah, all you lot moaning about a drop o' rain after the calamitous summer I've endured. Truly, today has been spectacularly good for August - even the wind has arrived and the rain has returned, splashing noisily against my window. Love it - gonna have a nip of whisky, don the heavy coat and head off into the night. Gotta make the most of what we get, seeing as normal summer service will soon resume - at least for a little while.

If things get any calmer around here, all molecular motion will cease and absolute zero will be upon us leading to the extinction of all life and the world itself. Expecting things to buck up later tho'...

An alternative view of things. See what I did there?

Just been for a stroll around the garden and I'm astonished to find about 25% of the elderberries are fully black and ripe, with the remainder not far behind. That's a full month early. Time to dust off the ol' demijohns, methinks.