The weather conversations these last few glorious days are nervous in tone. Beautiful, yes, but is it another early and short-lived summer like the last two years?

We came back from holiday this week in 2007 to weather that was not dissimilar to the late and beautiful summer we’d left behind us in Cape Town. It continued until early June and then we had what seemed like a never-ending downpour until September.

2008 was worse: an early summer for three weeks in May.

So, a collective visualization please of summer 2006: beautiful, fine days straight through from April to October.