valiant

Well you've got another brief one on the way ... it's just starting snowing heavily again with blue skies following.

Just laughing at the BBC weather. They talk about a few light snow showers. It's been snowing heavily here for 10 minutes. 12mm of fluffy snow. Christmas card stuff.

Just started here too. Big wet flakes.

Just had snow here too. On the slug front - counted 120 snails in my outside gas meter box yesterday.

Blizzard conditions for the Brummies to the south and the Mancs to the north - and here I am bang in the middle with mist and dripping gutters indicating a thaw.... No snow since the 3mm at breakfast time.

A pair of Redwings in my garden at the moment, scavanging around in the leaf litter under the laurels. At first I thought they were Thrushes. Had to look them up as I rarely see them. Striking plumage.

I'll be watching what happens this pm on the Mway cams. Mix and match to suit yourselves .... http://www.traffic-england.co.uk/motorwayflow.aspx

Birmingham or Stoke? In a lull here atm.

Odds sliding on a London white Christmas, out to 5/1 from 3/1 at lunchtime today.

This time last year, London had its first October snow since 1934 and this set off media/betting frenzy on a White Christmas. http://www.online-betting-guide.co.uk/news/18228180/White+Christmas+Odds+Fall+After+First+October+London+Snow+In+Seventy+Years.html I admit to making a few pennies on Betfair by taking bets at 6/1 just after the cold snap - and then covering myself by backing a white Christmas at 15/1 during the warm spell in November. A profit made 6 weeks before the day itself, which I seem to recall was cold but dry. More October snow please .....

If people lifted their heads from arguing the technicalities, they would realise that any changes that may take place will be so slow that they will be inperceptable to a human race that regenerates itself every 75 years - so that no single individual will ever notice a significant difference during THEIR lifetime.

Quite right. Get a grip! Cheeky Monkey will be saying next that the BBC, NHS, Police, Education, the justice system, Social Services are all politicised and engaged in subliminal social engineering at the taxpayers expence. Laughable.

Real downpour here with distant rumbles of thunder. (correction .. BIG Hammer Horror type crash of thunder )

Slinging it down here and strong, squally winds. A real downpour.

How can I sit in a classroom with two teachers, teaching me two ways to solve a mathematical problem - and screaming at each other because both think they're right, teach me ANYTHING? Bemused or a terrorist?

Some slugs eat your plants - others eat dead stuff and help break down your compost heap. It's easy to assume that the big buggers are the worst .. but they just might be the most beneficial. If a particular plant is getting hammered, go out with a torch in damp weather and pick them off - or use an organic method to hit that particular area. I'm all for making it difficult for them by using grit/gravel and keeping a dry area around the plants. I find that growing your favourite plants in pots helps protect them against slugs. Make your garden "toad friendly" http://www.wildlifeg...ads-garden.html

We went for a walk on Friday and picked the first ripe blackberry from the hedge side - commenting on how it was still July. This morning, peering through the autumnal drizzle, the lawn is covered in brown Birch leaves and mushrooms. The central heating has been clicking on in the evening. We booked a week in Cornwall from June 20th onwards. It was super summery weather but, as I recall, it was poor weather up to then - and when we came back there were cloudbursts as we drove through the west midlands. Since then, we've had the odd half day of pleasant weather. I'm no manic depressive - and there seems to be a divergence of views on this week's weather between NW and the BBC - but it IS getting me down, that Bonfire Night is now in my thoughts.

Do DEFRA fund the Met Office? Have they bought into central government spin? Pipers/tunes ...........

Do I detect a lukewarm reception here?

Weather hasn't changed much - it's US getting old. I came in from the cricket pitch opposite my house last week. The small kids in a junior match were having a brilliant time in the sunshine, batting with pads reaching just under their chins. Running around, staying healthy and playing sport that they will talk about for ever. I folded up my chair and came indoors at 8.30 pm to find people posting on here from 10 miles away, moaning that we were having a useless summer. GET OUT MORE. :huh:

Millions has already been spent by the British gardener on Mediterranean plants - which have promptly died, mainly through last winter. For God's sake. Get the weather right first. Don't start pontificating about garden plants and horticulture, particularly if the first part of the chain of logic is anything but proven. Bring back Peter Sissons.

So about average for the time of year.

That's too many E numbers - or getting your nicker elastic caught on the computer desk

It's grim oop north, too. BIG thunder and lightening moving SE through Uttoxeter as I post .... lights flickering.

I make do with this. http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/uk/radar/ shows summat nasty between Bristol and Swindon ......