You're a beautiful woman probably...

Unfortunately the bad weather is not bringing out the best in our TV newsreaders and weather forecasters. After getting it completely wrong with their forecast of a "barbecue summer" last year and then, again, saying the current winter was likely to be mild, they don't sound nearly apologetic enough about the current freezing weather (in Gateshead, one single snow-free day since 17 December). Apart from inaccurate forecasts, it also seems they're unable to sing from the same hymn sheet. Just after Christmas the Radio 4 forecaster said "a thaw is on the way" with a temperature in Newcastle of 5 degrees celsius. Ten minutes later, the BBC TV forecaster said "No let up in the cold weather" and predicted temperatures around zero. Guess which one was right? In addition, the BBC has taken to using irritating clichés like "the big freeze" (something I may be guilty of as well) as if it was a tabloid newspaper. More than once lately I've n...

Traditionally, the August Bank Holiday marks the end of summer - or at least, of summer holidays. As August often seems a lethargic, almost stagnant kind of month, I'm not usually sorry to see it go. Like last year, though, the summer seems to be ending before it's even properly begun. We've had a few days recently when the temperature has approached the usual August values but overall, the last couple of months have been cold and extremely wet. Watching a TV programme that showed that plants coped less well with waterlogging in summer than in winter - the opposite of what you might expect - makes me wonder if that's why the monardas (bergamot plants) in our garden haven't made an appearance this year. For the first couple of years they were great - two to three feet high with unusual, spiky red flowers. Apparently they like boggy ground and seemed very happy in our clay soil with so-so drainage. By last year they seemed to be taking over, having divided into abou...

It's nice to see that some rain and (at last) some warm weather have brought out the best in parks and gardens. I'm pleased to see a healthy number of bees buzzing around our garden, and that the local tits are keen on my nuts (fnarr fnarr) - although they don't seem to be nearly as enthusiastic about the seeds put out for them. See more (perfectly respectable!) photos on my Flickr pages .

It's a bit irritating to hear BBC weather people saying on two or three days this week "The temperature at the weekend will be a good ten degrees cooler" and "weather getting much colder" when it hasn't been above 14 celsius here all week. This assessment is purely because the London area has had some nice warm weather. However, it's been about par for the course here for five days, with grey skies and a chilly north east wind. Admittedly the weekend was nice and warm, but we were plunged back into cold again on Monday. Meteorologists shouldn't need to be told that the south east of England is not the same as the entire country!

I'm in grumpy old man mode today, and have to ask what on Earth is the matter with the weather ? In this part of the country, we haven't had a mild day (that is, with the temperatures in double figures) for nearly a month. It's 5.30pm and, once again, my outside thermometers are showing 6 degrees celsius - yes, the sort of temperature you might expect in February, not mid-April. What's worse, the long range forecast on the BBC say's there's not much prospect of things improving in the next four weeks . In April it's not unusual for it to rain nearly every day (as it has done). But, when the temperature is stubbornly three or four degrees below the average for weeks, and you look at last year's abysmal summer, you couldn't be blamed for believing the horror stories of global warming and the prospect of the Gulf Stream failing and plunging the UK into a much colder climate...

Through the wonders of the brilliantly portable Asus Eee PC and all-inclusive wireless Internet in (German) hotels, I can post to Blogger from my temporary place in Berlin. The two-stage flight (via Amsterdam) went smoothly and comfortably, although I have to admit that it's not very green. Easyjet used to fly here from Newcastle direct, but now it's apparently more of a money-raiser to fly direct to Krakow. I know there are a lot of Polish people in the UK these days but I still find this puzzling: I would have thought Berlin was a much more popular destination, for all sorts of reasons. Sadly, the weather forecast for the weekend is awful both in Germany and the UK. If the weather isn't too horrible here tomorrow we're off to Berlin Zoo, so here's hoping...