It’s a long time since I’ve been to Wales and I’ve only been to Northern Ireland once, but as a reasonably regular visitor to Scotland and a resident of England, I feel it’s safe to say that none of these countries are tropical or even warm in the summer. But, just occasionally we have a heat wave. Sometimes in April or May or a late ‘summer’ in September.
More often than not though, if the heat hits, it’ll do it in July or August. I love the warm weather and nothing cheers me up more than wearing summer dresses and wandering up a sandy beach. In London, only the dresses are possible and even I have been known to comment on the heat in less than glowing tones. In my defence, any comments are prefaced by “of course it’s not the heat that’s the problem, the problem is we’re in London”.
England’s capital city is not a fun place to be when it’s hot. From the underground to the average office, it’s invariably unpleasant and although I’ve no evidence, bad for your health. I say that as at least one person per week seems to be off work with a summer cold for at least one day a month – usually on the hottest day.
In every place of work, school, college or other gathering place you will find the one person who has continuously moaned about the weather since the very moment the sun peeps through the wintery gloom for a prolonged period. Usually the same person is “freezing” throughout the winter too. A perfectly miserable life. Wishing for the end of sunshine is just weird.
Unless you have a medical condition that makes it difficult or impossible for you to enjoy the sun, it makes no sense. Rain is good, we need rain, but in an ideal world it would only rain at night. There may be some argument for a stroll in misty light rain in a forest, that could be lovely with the right company and a hot chocolate waiting at home.
But, it could never snow again as far as I’m concerned, and if I miss it, there’s always Scotland and Glencoe – I love it there too. As for fog, sleet, hailstorms, hurricanes, tsunamis and everything else, surely there can be no useful purpose for them? The English may be obsessed with the weather, it’s unpredictability guarantees that forever, but they should be careful what they wish for.
There’s a huge caveat to all of the above. None of it is applicable to the Caribbean and St Lucia. Here the rain comes with real force. Thrown from the sky relentlessly at times, it’s life affirming and rarely grim. It restores and renews the tropical rainforest and cools the air at just the right time. I love the rain in St Lucia.