IT was astonishing to hear television pundits last week remarking that July's weather had been nothing out of the ordinary. Rainfall was unexceptional and while hours of sunshine were below average, it was not unusual to have a cloudy summer.

Then the penny dropped. They were talking about the weather in the south east. The North doesn't count.

Here at the Craven Herald we are used to Arabellas and Crispins calling from some London PR agency telling us they have some news of interest about a local person, who lives in Barnsley. We gently point out that while Barnsley might be in Yorkshire, it is about as relevant to the Yorkshire Dales as the Norfolk Broads is to London.

For the sake of the pundits, as far as we are concerned July was the wettest, most miserable summer month in decades.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.