A pretty wet drought, it has to be said!

After a day getting various things in order I left on the 26th to travel south. All worked out perfectly in the first few hours; the ferry journey was uneventful, the road journey unhindered. Of birds there was little in evidence which is not unsurprising when travelling along major routes.

I suppose it started raining once I got into Northern England!!  It kept on, got worse , visibility reduced and the whole scenario was pretty horrific, compounded by a discussion on the radio that the drought in southern England was likely to continue for some time  ( it was raining there as well ). Why are we forever burdened by the bloody conditions in southern England, a situation that is continually bolstered up by the biassed weather reports, by proportionality, on television and radio!!  Whilst I appreciate that heavy downpours are not going to replenish the aquifers overnight, and that more gentle rain over a prolonged period is required, some good surely must come out of the current situation!  The Water Authority official who offered the thought that the drought could last a couple more years needs to be somewhat more circumspect in my opinion. These long term forecasters are little better than soothsayers in the event and we would be better served by their silence!! I hate to think of the prospect, but we might just have a couple of very rainy years, what then, complaints about soddened land, crop failures and increased prices.

It kept raining all night and into the 27th, and there's more forecast. Oh, and I forgot to mention the 160 flood warnings that have gone out.

I don't actually mind the reportage about a continuing problem and what is needed to rectify the balance, but please stop belly-aching about the south of England and its problems. Last year it was the summer heat, now it's the drought, what next?  In the end I wonder how much of the grumbling stems from the public or is a result of media hype?  Most people seem to get on with life and accommodate the problems, but, as ever, then there's the minority............  mind you, I wish this rain would stop as it's not holiday weather at all!!!