It wouldn’t be summer would it, without the Met Office offering up one of their dire warnings?

Earlier in the week, they warned about drought conditions in the UK over the coming weeks. In their book, an ‘absolute drought’ is defined as a period of 'at least 15 consecutive days on none of which is there more than 0.2 mm of rainfall'.

‘It looks like some parts of the UK, particularly the South West of England, will see a prolonged dry picture for a week and a half." Gosh, a week and a half!

Then adding the bleeding obvious, ‘We’re not anticipating a real impact on us because it’s been very wet throughout the winter, and the ground water levels are fine.’

Well they had better shore the railway line at Dawlish again just in case the sub-soil cracks and hardens – and the sun buckles the new track.

At least, they have said that a hose-pipe ban is ‘not anticipated’!

Even those with relatively short memories will recall that we were all threatened with a hose-pipe ban just over 12 months ago. Then came the winter rains resulting in huge swathes of the country under water.

There were startling Images of sporstgrounds knee-deep in water. Groundsmen in waders were pictured on the pitch at Worcestershire's County Ground - yet here we are a few months on and Worcestershire having great season on their home turf. Last week I stopped off at the picturesque cricket ground at Henley on Thames where they were playing a county match, it looked stunning but again earlier in the year it too had been under several feet of water.

I cannot remember such a riot of colour and growth in our gardens, hedgerows, countryside, woodlands and parks as we are enjoying this summer.

So please Met Office, just leave us alone to enjoy Mother Nature. Let those who were hit so hard with the rains, particularly in tourist areas, be granted benign conditions to aid their recovery.  

Long summer nights, temperatures that go up and down, sudden showers, light breezes, stiff winds, crowded parks, the waft of the barbecue, Ascot, Lords, Wimbledon, Glastonbury – let’s hope the Met office are right.  When the sun shines, and the rains stays away, Britain at this time of the year is a wondrous place to be.