What?

The nation is in shock. Why? Well the weather of course.

We’d become used to having to wear extra clothes and turn the heating up a notch. We’d resigned ourselves to a cold, wet summer, although that may still be on the cards, who knows?

On Sunday I went to watch two of my grandchildren take part in a sports event. It was held in the park which is right on the seafront. We all turned various shades of blue and even a hot doughnut didn’t warm us up (although the price of them got my beloved a bit hot under the collar).

On Tuesday morning I grumbled to my friend in Sydney that it was flipping cold. On Tuesday afternoon I drove down to the town and boiled. That’s when I noticed the full effect of the shock on the general public.

If you’ve ever seen The Walking Dead – well it was like a scene from that without the ragged clothes. People lurching along the pavements before suddenly hurling themselves into the path of oncoming cars.

I watched a woman try to reverse into a parking space. Nothing unusual there you might think except a lorry was already halfway into it. He had to hoot so she went and parked on a double yellow line instead.

And what effect did this sudden strange burst of heat have on me? I rushed into a shop and bought beach buckets. I now have a mammoth supply of beach buckets – but no spades. See, heat addled.