Is it raining today?
Superstition or the wisdom of experience? There's a saying in the UK that if it rains on St Swithun's Day (15 July) then 40 days rain will follow. If the sun shines it will continue dry for 40 days. In one version it goes like this: St Swithun's Day, if thou dost rain, For forty days it will remain' St Swithun's Day, if thou be fair, For forty days, 'twill rain na mair. It's sunny here now, but rain is forecast - much needed for the dry gardens and fields. So what weather will we have for the next weeks? And what has that got to do with St Swithun, whose day is today? And who was he anyway? In the UK, in 7-8 out of 10 years the weather pattern prevailing around the first half of July tends to persist for the following few weeks. This has to do with the way our weather is controlled by the jet stream and doesn't have much to do with Swithun, Bishop of Winchester, although he had wanted to be buried where rainwater from the Minster eaves would...