The Big Chill

Well it looks like at long last the snow is really gone, but according to some people the winter isn't over yet. Well knock me down with a feather - its the 15th January and the winter isn't over yet - would you credit it!

Is it just me or do the reporters on the tv have a strange perception of what the weather should be like? I'm growing increasingly frustrated with some of them, especially those on regional news bulletins, who will report on the cricket in South Africa and then make a comment about how lovely and hot it is there when it's all snowy and cold here - well that's because its winter here and summer there. In this country we have generally cold damp winters, occasionally for a few weeks we will have snow further south than Scotland and even more occasionally the snow will cause problems. Africa on the other hand......

Why do they all think that we want to live sub Saharan conditions? Some of us like living in a country that defined seasons. Cold in winter, mild in spring and autumn and warm in summer. As a rule we don't experience huge fluctuations in temperature, life threatening tornadoes or monsoon summers (ok I'll give you that one)we have a temperate climate which makes us get very over excited if it doesn't rain for a week when we go camping in the Lake District in June!

But the thing that really makes me mad is when we are told half the story, for example, this week we were told that Melbourne had had one of it's hottest night with recorded temperatures of 37 degrees at midnight. The accompanying film was of young people sitting on the beach in the dark and a father in shorts and t shirt pushing his little baby along trying to get it to sleep in the heat. At the end of the piece the reporters just said that 37 was probably 'a bit too hot' but wouldn't it be lovely to feel warm again. What they didn't tell you was that across South Australia trains were cancelled because over head lines had melted, people without air conditioning were flocking to shopping malls, 43,0000 of them in one mall in Melbourne alone and In Victoria 30,0000 people were without electricity.

So instead of brrr Britain cold and bad, hummn Australia warm and good maybe our dumbed down news reporting could be a little less simplistic and just give us the facts. And don't get me started on the weather presenters, their constant over exaggeration of the snow these past few weeks would be laughable if it wasn't so tragic. Last weekend with snow on the beach as well as the pavements and roads, Dave and I took the dogs out and started chatting to a fellow dog walker. We were all sensibly dressed for the cold and agreed that with the clear skies and light breezes it was a perfect day to get out and about but if we'd taken any notice of the weather reports we would be huddled in front of the fire dreaming of holidays on a tropical island.

I love this country, I love the crazy weather, but I'm beginning to think that 'media folk' want to be any where else but here.