h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

My couple of weeks in Wexford were very relaxing. But I was driven out of the place a few days early by the sudden onset of rain. We had very nice weather most of the time, but when it started raining on Friday, and the forecast said it would be raining on Saturday and Sunday too, I decided the time had come to return home. So I got home yesterday evening.

There seems to have been quite a lot happening while I was away. Has Bel really gone off in a huff?

don't know about Bel (someone care to spill the beans) but I've had a bit of a moment this week

Welcome back, Gnomon. Hope you're feeling rested. It seems fall is trying to come early this year - it's been chilly here in the US, too.

I count that Autumn starts on the 15th of August, and it certainly appears to have done this year.

This has been the wettest Summer on record.

Having been in Ireland in September, I can understand that.

Here, though, it's usually still very hot. And today, we haven't had the nerve to try the pool yet.

Bel is taking a bit of a breather, as some of her posts were being modded and she doesn't know why. She's still doing The Post, thank goodness!

Welcome back, Gnomon.

Sorry your holiday was curtailed, but I'd wager it's not the first time you've seen a bit of summer rain over there.

We're having some violent thunderstorms here in the South-east UK this afternoon.

D'you know, we had the weirdest rain in Belfast this afternoon? And as I was driving through it, I was talking out loud, and saying - I'm Irish! I know rain! And I've never seen rain like this!

It was very very large drops, very very far apart.

You people are rain specialists over there.

Gno - is that official that autumn starts on 15th August, because for me that's still high summer.

No, it's not official.

Traditionally in Ireland, Autumn starts on 1 August, but Irish weathermen use 1 September. I believe that most people in the UK (including the Oxford English Dictionary) use 1 September too.

All of August is summer to me, autumn doesn't start until September - late September if you're lucky enough to get an 'Indian' summer.

Astronomically, 21 September is the exact middle of Autumn, which would put the start at 6 August. But the further you are from the ocean, the later the season is delayed, so continental countries tend to think of the seasons starting later than oceanic countries like Ireland.

ah - got it. Thanks Gno!

welcome back Gnomon

I apologise about the English weather, here in Lincolnshire it's been raining (the kind of rain which soaks through to your bones) all day and we also had a terrific thunderstorm with only a couple of flashes of lightning but plenty of claps of thunder

Welcome back Gnomon. Shame your break was curtailed by another bout of the appalling weather we've all had this year.

Welcome back. Bel was - justifiably - annoyed by some yikesing. And there were a few other tiffs which even those of us who somehow never seem to get involved in that sort of thing couldn't avoid.

Most conversations are "business as usual" though.

I think 10 days' holiday weather was a good run in Wexford, so well done!

We have had terrible weather here, too. Hot, humid and unbearably sticky. Unnecessarily high temperatures. As a "Northern Light", which is what I classify myself as in German parlance, I have been totally lethargic and lifeless and have been hiding in the bedroom with the curtains drawn until it passes.

School started here two weeks ago - right in the middle of the heat wave! When does everyone else start back again?

ours went back last Wednesday, at the tail-end of our heatwave. It's still nice summer weather though, so the Gruesomes are mightily peeved about it.

Iz has been off since the beginning of June, and is back next Wednesday. El, who is in college (university), has been off since mid-May and will be back at the start of October.

The Irish seasons start on the first of February, May, August and November, so the summer and winter solstices fall in the middle of summer and winter.

The Irish name for August is Lúnasa (after the feast of the god Lugh, pronounced Loo) corresponding to Lammas. The first of August is a harvest festival in Celtic cultures.

September and October are called 'mid harvest' and 'end of harvest' in Irish: Meán Fómhair and Deire Fómhair.