How's the weather?

[kinuta]

H37 L27 or for the F brigade H98.6F - L80F.

[A Lark Ascending]

Summer came back over the last two days - two very nice sunny days to end the holidays on.

[sidewinder]

Good week for a hol. Spent a pleasant hour or so yesterday sunning myself reading the paper here. Very atmospheric !

The day before I was here:-

[A Lark Ascending]

Where is here, sidewinder?

Maiden Castle? Or another hill fort?

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Lovely weather since Sunday. Can't believe it.

MG

[sidewinder]

Where is here, sidewinder?

Maiden Castle? Or another hill fort?

First one is Knowlton Earthworks near Wimborne. Neolithic henge circa 2500 BC with a Norman church planted smack bang in the middle of it !

Second one is Badbury Rings - to the South of Blandford. The damn travellers/idlers dossing there en route to the so-called 'Great Dorset Steam Fare' have now left, thankfully - having caused the locals quite a bit of grief with their detritus.

Badbury Rings (Iron age but neolithic origins) is quite an interesting place. There is speculation that the Arthurian Battle of Mount Badon (circa AD 500) could have been fought there. I don't rule out this theory !

Might well check out Maiden Castle later on today. Or maybe Hambledon.

Edited September 2, 2010 by sidewinder

[A Lark Ascending]

Thought it was a bit small for Maiden Castle - I recall the latter as being massive.

Amazing what you just stumble on in the countryside. I was heading from Cheddar to Cornwall the other week and decided to try and find Athelney in the Somerset Levels where Alfred the Great hid from the Vikings and supposedly burnt the cakes, prior to his later victories. Just saw this from the road and had to stop:

Burrow Mump it's called.

Nothing to mark Athelney - you'd have thought there would at least be an Alfred and his Cakes Tea Room (though I think I spotted a pub called The Alfred or something similar).

(pay close attention to the English Summer at the top of the picture)

Edited September 2, 2010 by A Lark Ascending

[sidewinder]

Yeah, I've been to the Athelney spot a few times - now little more than a bump in the ground. At the time of Alfred The Great (who holed up there prior to Battle of Eddington, near Westbury) it would have been reeds and marshland and Athelney itself a small fortified island, very difficult to find and access without local knowledge. A good place therefore for hiding out from Danes (the local history has it that the burning of the cakes legend may well have been based on fact and probably originated from this area). There was also an exquisite jewelled pointer found at Athelney - one of the finest Saxon objects ever found - now in the Ashmolean Museum I believe.

The only thing I remember for the tourists at Athelney is some ruins of the Abbey and a few historical exhibits on show (medieval tiles and the like).

Anyway, back to the weather. Looks nice out there.

Edited September 2, 2010 by sidewinder

[BruceW]

For the past two weeks with only a break of a couple of days this week, the temps have been in the 100's every day. I'm in San Bernardino but where I am is is always 5-10 degrees hotter than appears on weather forecasts. Yesterday it was 105 degrees in the shade on my patio.

BruceW

[BillF]

Clearly, summer's over! According to my computer it was 7C outside first thing this morning and a touch of frost is forecast for tonight. Time they put the August Bank Holiday back to early August!

Well, I got it wrong! We've now had several days of clear skies and sunny weather, tho' cool at night. Temperature range 20/12C. We call this sort of weather at this time of year an "Indian summer". Is that expression used in the States?

[sidewinder]

Another great day down here today. Can't believe my luck in taking this week off as holiday. Who needs to go abroad when it's as good as this?

[A Lark Ascending]

Another great day down here today. Can't believe my luck in taking this week off as holiday. Who needs to go abroad when it's as good as this?

It's been brill! Though sadly tied in with a week I've had to work indoors ready for school restarting next week. I'm sure I booked this weather for early August, not September.

Hope it doesn't keep up next week...'Sir, it's too 'ot to wok.'

Well, I got it wrong! We've now had several days of clear skies and sunny weather, tho' cool at night. Temperature range 20/12C. We call this sort of weather at this time of year an "Indian summer". Is that expression used in the States?

I'd suspect so...given the tune 'Indian Summer'. Victor Herbert, Wiki says.

Very nice Sidney Bechet version; and a lovely Jim Hall version from the mid-70s.

Edited September 3, 2010 by A Lark Ascending

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Rain forecast for Monday - back to normal when they go back to school.

MG

[BillF]

Rain forecast for Monday - back to normal when they go back to school.

MG

Hope the sun lasts till Sunday. I'm going to an afternoon gig by Mark Nightingale with the Swing Shift Big Band at the Royal Clifton Hotel, Southport, right opposite the pier and I'm hoping for a walk.

[kinuta]

H37 L28

[sidewinder]

Hope the sun lasts till Sunday. I'm going to an afternoon gig by Mark Nightingale with the Swing Shift Big Band at the Royal Clifton Hotel, Southport, right opposite the pier and I'm hoping for a walk.

Southport? If it's anything like Blackpool it'll be gale force winds and horizontal rain. At least it is everytime I go there.

[A Lark Ascending]

Hope the sun lasts till Sunday. I'm going to an afternoon gig by Mark Nightingale with the Swing Shift Big Band at the Royal Clifton Hotel, Southport, right opposite the pier and I'm hoping for a walk.

Confused me there, Bill. The North-West is 'here be dragons' country for me. I constantly get Southport and Stockport mixed up. Couldn't understand why there would be a pier or where they would put it. Perhaps it was like Wigan pier.

[GregK]

big change here this week. all week it was in the low 90s, then on Thursday it dropped to the 80s, then last night it dropped to the mid-50s.

[BillF]

Hope the sun lasts till Sunday. I'm going to an afternoon gig by Mark Nightingale with the Swing Shift Big Band at the Royal Clifton Hotel, Southport, right opposite the pier and I'm hoping for a walk.

Confused me there, Bill. The North-West is 'here be dragons' country for me. I constantly get Southport and Stockport mixed up. Couldn't understand why there would be a pier or where they would put it. Perhaps it was like Wigan pier.

Yes, confusing! To help you orientate these places on your jazz map, I'll say that I don't know if Wigan ever had a pier, but that it used to have an excellent concert hall called The Mill on the Pier where I saw Arturo Sandoval, the Paquito D'Rivera/Claudio Roditi Quintet and American big bands led by Mel Lewis, Frank Foster, Phil Woods, Bill Holman and Frank Tiberi (in the name of Woody Herman). At the Davenport Theatre, Stockport I saw British big bands led by Shorty Rogers, Louie Bellson and Clark Terry. I've only recently discovered jazz in Southport and, as well as tomorrow's gig, I hope to catch the Kirk Lightsey Trio with Bobby Wellins there in October. Hope that makes things clearer!

[paul secor]

Cooled down - 70's with a breeze. My kind of weather.

[BruceW]

Man, it is 9:30 A.M. and it is 98 degrees on my patio already.

I need to move.

[BruceW]

Holy S**t

I just checked again and it is now 107 degrees on my patio. Not going outside again today. Feeling lethargic, can't concentrate on practice. Think I will just enjoy the US Tennis Open and some football on TV.

Edited September 4, 2010 by BruceW

[kinuta]

H 37.6 L 29 Fed up with it. No escape.

[BillF]

Hope the sun lasts till Sunday. I'm going to an afternoon gig by Mark Nightingale with the Swing Shift Big Band at the Royal Clifton Hotel, Southport, right opposite the pier and I'm hoping for a walk.

Southport? If it's anything like Blackpool it'll be gale force winds and horizontal rain. At least it is everytime I go there.

Sunshine and gentle winds today. And marvellous music, of course!

[sidewinder]

Sunshine and gentle winds today. And marvellous music, of course!

Glad the weather turned out well !

Looks like we are in for a mixed bag this week. Probably the tail end weather system of Hurricane Earl coming through I guess but this morning it looks fine. Can't believe how lucky I was last week with my week off.