Weather
Here in Texas, Hell has frozen over
Austin ‘If I owned Texas and Hell,’ General Phil Sheridan famously said, ‘I would rent out Texas and live in…
My toilet ultimatum to the builder boyfriend
The rain showers had a strange and wondrous effect. All the cyclists, joggers and dog walkers that were coming from…
Tuscany’s killer climate
The hotel manager had arranged for me to borrow an Alfa Romeo Spider Duetto two-seater convertible (1982) for the afternoon.…
Portrait of the week: Labour/Tory Brexit talks, Gavin Williamson’s innocence plea and Cyclone Fani
Home John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, blamed Theresa May, the Prime Minister, for leaking details of talks between the government…
The wisdom of toads, termites and wait-a-bit thorns
Laikipia Off Madagascar the other day the Indian Ocean gave birth to a little storm called 11S. As its gyre…
London calling
Madame Monet was bored. Wouldn’t you have been? Exiled to London in the bad, cold winter of 1870–71. In rented…
Same old inconvenient drivel
Al Gore’s new film, An Inconvenient Sequel – Truth to Power, opens in Australia on August 10. What a pity.…
Rain, shine and the human imagination — from Adam and Eve to David Hockney
‘Pray don’t talk to me about the weather, Mr Worthing,’ pleads Gwendolen in The Importance of Being Earnest. ‘Whenever people…
Susan Hill’s French notebook: My struggle to avoid local cuisine
An overnight stop on the Ile de Ré taken between the St Malo ferry and the Quercy, where we always…
The pitfalls of picnics (and how to avoid them)
Strange, isn’t it, that despite having such famously terrible weather, we Brits are so fond of a picnic. It’s something…
The hottest year on which record?
Did you know that 2014 was the hottest year ever recorded in the entire history of the world? Probably you…
L.P. Hartley’s guide to coping with a heatwave
Those of us who have been struggling to endure the recent heat should turn to L.P. Hartley’s classic coming-of-age novel The…
Global warming's glorious ship of fools
Eco-warriors stranded in the Antarctic! It’s too good to be true