This is an exploration of our preoccupation with the weather as heard on BBC Radi 3: Changing Climates. In his trademark style Richard Mabey weaves together science art & memoirs (including his own) to show the weather's impact on our culture & national psyche. He rambles through the myths of Golden Summers & our persistent state of denial about the winter; the Impressionists' love affair with London smog seasonal affective disorder (SAD
- do we all get it?) & the mysteries of storm migraines; herrings falling like hail in Norfolk & Saharan dust reddening south-coast cars; moonbows dog-suns fog-mirages & Constable's clouds; the fact that English has more words for rain than Inuit has for snow; the curious eccentricity of country clothing & the mathematical behaviour of umbrella sales. We should never apologise for our obsession with the weather. It is one of the most profound influences on the way we live & something we all experience in common. No wonder it's the natural subject for a greeting between total strangers: ' Turned out nice again.'