A DISMAL SUMMER

Weather conditions in Europe currently seem to have an inverse relationship with the strength of local economies. In the places with serious problems, such as Greece, Italy and Spain, there is a heatwave; while in the more economically sensible north, there is not much sun and a lot of rain. Britain has had the wettest April and June on record, plus flash floods; and the former drought has now been decisively put to rest. Star performer Sweden had 113mm of rain in a couple of hours the other day, more than it usually gets in a month; and lots of those pretty red wooden houses in Småland are currently under water and rotting. There hasn't been any flooding here in Denmark, but there have been lots of cloudbursts (defined as 15mm of rain in 30 minutes) and heavy showers.

My wife treated us to an ice cream this evening at the excellent ice cream shop up the hill. It's really good ice cream; but as I ate it, I thought to myself that it would have tasted even better, sitting in some balmy Mediterranean harbour than under grey Scandinavian clouds.

Walter Blotscher