Brilliantly sunny here, leading to a humid and hot morning! No means
of measuring the shade temperature but it must now be approaching the
hottest for this year. It reminds me of the heat we had in early
August 2003.

We had a brief but intense shower yesterday, around 17.00 hrs, which
more or less came out of the blue and seemed to develop over us, as
opposed to being imported from elsewhere. Very large raindrops, of
the warm variety that you experience in warmer climes like the Med but
you don't often experience in the UK. Very pleasant after a very warm
afternoon. I was watering the garden at the time and I decided to
continue (the neighbours already think I'm half cracked) on the
grounds that, after a dry spell, it's best to water when it's already
raining: it soaks in better and you lose nothing through evaporation
as you do it. Yesterday evening was one of those wonderfully warm,
soft evenings that we don't get enough of but which unfortunately are
loved by the mosqitoes, which have been rather numerous this year.

If this evening's forecast hold good, I might stay up and watch the
storms - all the signs here look good at the moment.

Regards to you all.

- Tom.
Blackmore, SW Essex.