Isabel Webster says what you’re thinking
A SOGGY SUMMER
Picture the scene: a quintessential English village, young boys and girls all dressed in white playing cricket on a perfectly mowed pitch. The sound of willow on leather. Bliss. I’d been looking forward to it all winter. But this year something has been different. Almost every match has been an endurance test, surviving either torrential rain or the freezing cold.
Last week I was wearing my long winter ‘duvet’ coat, a scarf and a woolly hat! And I never thought I’d have to scrub mud stains out of cricket whites, instead of grass stains. Don’t get me wrong. We have enjoyed the odd sunny day so far this ‘summer’. But let’s be honest, they’ve been intermittent. And, after the country’s second-wettest October to March periods on record, we have all been dying for a break in the clouds and a glimpse of blue sky and sunshine.
However, the outlook is bleak. The Met Office recently briefed the Government and transport chiefs to prepare for 50 days of rain in the next three months. It sparked fears for one of the wettest summers in 100 years. It’s enough to make me want to pack my suitcase and emigrate forever!
It’s the hope that gets you in the end. We all dream of long, warm, sunny evenings. But when forecasters take that away from you, it really is depressing. Organisers of Wimbledon, Glastonbury and Royal Ascot are rapidly preparing wet-weather plans. But whether you’re just looking forward to a family get-together, a village fete or even a wedding – be warned, it will be dominated by anoraks and wellies! Swapping out picnic blankets for woolly blankets and barbecues for patio heaters is truly demoralising, I know. The soggy weather also has other disadvantages. The slugs are loving it! My poor vegetable patch has been absolutely decimated by hundreds and hundreds of slimy thieves.
It’s hard to know if I have rose-tinted specs when I look back on the summers of my childhood. But I really do remember months of bare feet, sun-kissed skin and wall-to-wall sunshine. Well, it seems that’s not going to happen for summer 2024. So, if I can’t enjoy my son playing cricket, at least I can indulge in that othe
