One of the most identifiable characteristics of Britain to our European neighbours is our weather and notably are obsession with it, and its no surprise why. It is a national pastime for many of us to talk, and largely moan about, British weather. Weather is often the initial topic in any conversation, and I often find myself talking about the snowflake I saw, the 27 degree heat I experienced and the gale force wind I was nearly blown away by, as enthusiastically as my ninety year old grandmother. Although I realise that my “passion” is a little more unusual and extreme than most (I have my own individual weather station; equipped with statistics ranging from the temperature, to current conditions to humidity to other pretty pointless facts and figures), I share a common interest with many other Britain's. This is shown by the amount of media attention which is dedicated towards the climate. The frenzy which is created through news bulletins on the television (every fifteen minutes), as well as contributions made by the radio and the Internet, at times make reality seem like the film “day after tomorrow”. For example half an inch of snow is enough for the police to warn motorists us not to leave their homes unless it’s “absolutely necessary”, for the rail companies to cancel trains and even for the Channel tunnel, which is underground to be closed! Ironically, to be honest, for all are obsession Britain cannot cope when “true weather” which hits most European countries regularly, actually does hit us. I take the view that the main reason for this national interest in our climate is because of the fact it is so changeable; influenced largely by the unsettling effect of low-pressure zones moving in with the prevailing westerly and south-westerly winds from the Atlantic. Yet, places such as Italy experience a wider range of climatic conditions than us (extremely cold in the winter and hot in the summer) but they don’t seem to have been labelled as “metofficeophiles” as many of us Britons could be classed as! Therefore, I would like to find out weather (deliberate spelling error... hehe... actually not that funny) if you yourself, as well as your country take as much an interest in your respective climates as much as we do? |
