We Brits like talking about the weather."Nice day, isn't it", "bit chilly for the time of year", and "scorchio!" are the phrase that oil the conversations across our little land.
And even if it never gets that hot or that cold, there is a lot of weather to talk about, as fronts come off the Atlantic, from the North Pole, or from the European land mass.
I hear there are countries where talking about the weather is thought to be boring. I even heard that argument used as the poorest of poor excuses to not talk about Global Warming!
But the weather is a connection between us and the world around us, and the planet on which we live. And it can have dramatic effects on the life we live.
To take just one topical example: the St Helena high is in the wrong place, and that's about to stop the Vendee Globe fleet in its track.
The figure above shows the wind arrows and fleet just off the web site, and there is great uncertainty about where best to position to take account of the stronger pressure when it comes.
I'm sure there is lots of talk and thinking going on about the weather now amongst the captains down there.
