Classic FM's byeline this summer is "More Music Summer"
Some of us listen non stop - but this summer it is often in conjunction with the rain coming down.
In Spring, we said "spring has sprung the grass has ris I wonder where the birdies is ?"
Did we remember St Swithin's day [the 15th July] this year and did it rain? It must have done because it does seem to have rained ever since - although by the time this article is being written [on the 20th August] it should all be over within a week - the 40 days will be up.
The old poem goes like this...
"St Swithin's Day, if it does rain
Full forty days, it will remain
St Swithin's Day, if it be fair
For forty days, t'will rain no more"
One thing is for sure, the grass especially "is riz", and some plants and flowers love it, whereas other's don't. As for the hedges - well they just keep on growing.
The wild blackberries are doing splendidly, the lettuce leaves in the vegetable box have grown well - and provided one of the famous "five [vegetables] a day" on several occasions. Although the wild raspberries did not do well, my potted plant did. As for the Strawberries - they seem to have lost the plot - flowered were rained off - started again and flowering now ??? Indeed had a huge one the squirrel missed.
As for the birdies . . . well they come and go and the bird feeders need to be filled quite often.
Will we get an "Indian Summer" ? The Meterological Office desribe it as follows:
Whatever the origin of the phrase, it evidently first was used in the eastern United States. The first recorded use of the phrase appears in a letter written by a Frenchman called John de Crevecoeur dated 17 January 1778. In his description of the Mohawk country he writes "Sometimes the rain is followed by an interval of calm and warm which is called the Indian summer."
The term was first used in the UK in the early 19th century and went on to gain widespread usage. The concept of a warm autumn spell though was not new to the UK. Previously, variations of "Saint Martin's summer" were widely used across Europe to describe warm weather surrounding St Martin's Day (11 November).
Currently, the warmest recorded temperatures in the UK in October and November are 29.9 °C on 1 October 2011, in Gravesend, Kent, and 22.4 °C on 1 November 2015, at Trawsgoed, Ceredigion.
Lets hope.