It seems pathetic to complain about the weather here in the UK when blogging friends in the USA have been confronted with a couple of hurricanes in the past fortnight or so and almost certainly have more to come. However, summer 2008 never really made it on to the stage here. By some time in July the best it could do was limp on from the wings, mutter a few lines, splutter and cough, and beat a hasty retreat before yet more heavy cloud formations marched in from the south-west to give us an almost unprecedented soaking and deprive us of daylight at the same time.
That is why this blog has been a bit quiet about cycling lately and, if the medium range weather forecast is any guide, may well remain so until after my next trip into the city when I will look for some waterproofs. I am wondering what to buy. My cycling is of the relatively unhurried leisure variety for which I wear everyday clothes. Overtrousers seem to be a good idea and I think probably a jacket rather than a cape, although I found the latter quite effective years ago.
This morning I did my frequent tour of the blogs linked to this one and was disappointed by a few where there have been no new posts for several weeks. I do not want my list of links to become too long – and I would prefer my links to be reciprocated wherever possible. So I have decided that where a blog is not linked to this one, and has been inactive for six weeks or more, I will delete the link. It will all be reversible of course should the circumstances change.
Just Williams 
I know what you mean about the weather, it’s pretty depressing – trying to dodge in between the showers. But, as you say – there’s always someone worse off…
Still, when deprived of a justly anticipated summer (I hear you folks have been really cheated) it’s hard not to feel annoyed. Here in Oregon, where the rains will probably start mid-October and continue until roughly June (no joke. Some years are worse than others, but it really does drag on that long), we get cabin fever ‘long about February. It’s dark when we go to work in the morning, rainy and gray all day, then dark again by the time we drive home at night. Blech. I expect to be going stark, staring mad by April at the latest.
Oddly, summer never really came to Los Angeles, either, at least not here along the coast. Normally, we should have sunshine and temps in the 80s and 90s from July through October; this year, we’ve had fog and clouds, with highs mostly in the 70s, and now we show every sign of a very early fall. Not exactly something to complain about when so many others have much bigger problems to deal with, but still, not what one expects here in L.A.
I hope you’ll find at least few dry days when you can enjoy riding without the foul weather gear. And keep up the great writing.
For some reason our Summer in Ottawa was not too bad. Weird rain storms almost every day though (late afternoon).
Expect the bike blogs in the Northern hemisphere to cool down a bit (excuse the pun). We’ll be buried in snow from November through March for sure. There are some folks that cycle here year-round though (crazy Canucks!).
~ L
It was all over the (weather)map here. Cooler than usual for the most part, then a few days in the 90s and 100s, then a week later raining and in the 60s… I guess even the weather can have Multiple Personality Disorder.
Les, winter will be a good time to catch up on reading. I’ve got a bunch of bikey books on my list to get through during the dark days ahead. I understand they actually make studded bike tires for those hardcore cyclist who ride through the snow!
Thanks for all your comments. A lot has changed in 24 hours so another update was needed here:
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