Weather wise

WHAT GLORIOUS weather we're having! Unless, of course, you happen to be in Weymouth, where the basement of the police station was flooded by storms on Wednesday night and prisoners had to be transferred to Dorchester.

As I was saying: What glorious weather we're having! Unless you live in Wareham, where a bolt of lightning stuck a chimney pot in South Street and a house in West Street was also hit by lightning.

But apart from the electrical storms in Dorset - which left thousands of homes without power, and many more without sleep as alarms were set off unpredictably, and resulted in the county's firefighters being called out 112 times on Wednesday night - apart from those, we're really having some excellent weather - apart from the flood alert in Somerset, or if you're one of those poor chaps trying to play golf in Oxfordshire, where thunderstorms delayed the start of the Benson & Hedges International.

There's a good deal of fog around, of course, and some smog as ground- level clouds prevent smoke and car- exhaust fumes from escaping into the upper atmosphere, and there are some storms brewing in France that are on their way over here. But the important thing is that Southampton recorded 28.6C on Wednesday, the highest temperature recorded on 13 May.

So for any readers soaking in Dorset, golfing in Oxfordshire, shivering in York, or even colder in Newcastle, the message is clear: just lie back and think of Southampton.