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ups.com...

Dave.C wrote:
|From a personal point of view this has been the "best" summer since 1976 in
terms of it's dryness, heat and amounts of sunshine. I moved in to my
current house that year and there are the same concerns around now as there
were then regarding subsidence due to the London Clay cracking. I believe
that year the good weather started a bit earlier in May and broke down at
the beginning of September as I was about to go on holiday. It is still fine
here today.
I used "best" in inverted commas as my memories as a 26 year old with a baby
daughter on the way are slightly better than the old codger I have become
worrying about my now mature garden drying up!

Dave

I spent 4 weeks of that summer on a course at the MO College, Shinfield
Park, and it was so hot there was no chance of sleep until about 2 a.m.
each night. I remember going to a friends flat at Point Royal in
Bracknell one evening, and the thermometer on his balcony read 28 C at
2300. It is interesting to see the archive film of the final Test match
at The Oval that summer. The outfield was almost completely brown.
(They dont show that match too often as we were thrashed by the West
Indies IIRC). It will be interesting to see how this years Oval
compares.


LOL. Boy do I remember that summer. In the height of it, circa 1 week temps
32C, I slept outside on two nights with just a sheet for the dawn period. I felt
like a Biafran refugee, but it was the only way to stay cool at night, quite
nice though sleeping under the stars with no tent. In late August we went on a
walking holiday in NE England. The Lyke Wake walk across the North York moors
was shut due to fire. We also spent a few days on the coast path. At Whitby the
Youth Hostel was full so we decided to sleep on the beach with no tent, and
would you believe it, it rained and we got damp! The first bleedin rain for
weeks and it had to fall when we were sleeping outside. That autumn it rained
and rained and rained and ..... . The rest is history. Sheesh I'm getting old,
54 in old money but still only 12 in Celsius :-)

Will (Haytor, Devon, 1017 feet asl)
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