Summertime greys

This was taken at ten past 9 this morning as cloud piled in from the west again and I scurried to take shelter from a downpour for the umpteenth time. June is over and we're still wearing wellies and waterproofs most days. When will summer come? Or will this be another Year Without A Summer, like 1816?

The eruption of the Mount Tambora in Indonesia in 1815 deposited a huge amount of volcanic ash in the atmosphere with the consequence that temperatures dropped drastically and the sun was obscured. Storms, flood and frost meant that crops failed all over the northern hemisphere. Food prices rose. There were severe famines in many countries and epidemics of typhus and cholera. Rioting and looting broke out all over Europe. It's said that the terrible weather confined the Romantic poet Shelley and his entourage indoors in Switzerland where to pass the time they competed to write horror stories: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was the result.

While we're waiting for the summer of 2012 we can listen to a great song about the summer of 1816.