Chatting about the weather - one of my most favouritest pastimes!

I hate that English conversational staple, The Weather.  It's so listless and anodyne as a subject for general discussion that there should be a blanket ban on its use.  Or it should be completely acceptable that if you were talking to someone, and they said something like "Hasn't it been hot recently!" you could just blow a raspberry right into their face before sloshing them in whatever drink you happened to be holding at the time.

But now I'm exaggerating.  And I'm also going to turn into a massive hypocrite by saying (clears throat)... hasn't it been hot recently!

The weather-obsessed media has been going mad of late, calling this an 'Indian Summer' (though to be technical a warm spell is only supposed to be termed an 'Indian Summer' if it happens in November or December) and the papers have all been begging us to 'Send in your photos!' as they always do when the sun's out or there's been a bit of snow.  What always strikes me is how unoriginal these photos are; they're mostly of badly made snowmen or people on the beach.  Why waste the opportunity to be a bit creative?  How about one of yourself in a bath of ice cubes (that might work for both weathers actually) or a quick snap of the face of person sitting next to you on the train...at the very moment you've been told about an hour-long delay due to "the tracks having melted in the extreme heat".  

Personally, I don't like this weather very much, though you wouldn't have known that on Saturday, when I was swanning along the Embankment in a sundress listening to Melody Gardot.  No - the reason I don't like this weather much is because it's so bland.  I can only deal with a few sunny days a year (which is probably a good thing considering!) because after those few days everything's just a bit more dull.  All everybody does is laze around in shorts and have barbecues.  Boring.  In winter you're forced to do more...even if it's just in an attempt to keep warm.  Winter weather has more offbeat character; plus you can appreciate a journey and its end far more if you've had to make it outside in bracing wind, rain or snow.  There's also something comforting and serene about putting the fire on and then looking out of the window on a freezing cold or rainy day, because everything's so much quieter and far less frantic.  People are frantic when hot weather comes to this country; so desperate are they to enjoy it before it goes again.

It's also a lot harder to get any work done when it's hot, precisely because it is "holiday" weather, encouraging the "lazing around in shorts" I just mentioned.  Not that I'm doing that now, of course.  I'm working extremely hard.