It has rained every day since I returned from Paris– nearly two weeks now of dark, depressing, non-stop rain instead of spring sun. April 2012 has been declared the wettest month since national rainfall records began. There’s flooding across the country at the same time a drought has been declared, which includes an indefinite hosepipe (outside water use) ban. The Great River Ouse and its tribuitary surrounding my house are flowing so fast that birds haven’t been able to use it for a few days, AND YET, during the first break in rain this morning, some birds still managed to poop on my car!
Leading stories in tonight’s evening news were weather and News Corp trials (still!); news media here (and likely in Western Europe in general) is very self-focused, much more so than American (real) news networks. A brief story on French elections shows a shot of a British news anchor in Paris walking past a Starbucks- surreal, but at least it wasn’t raining. I have to watch Al Jazeera English or even Russia Today to see international news on TV at home.
