heatwave
My cave house’s wonderful history
Provence Looking back on it, apart from this year’s wildfires, the stultifying heat of high summer in Provence isn’t so…
Portrait of the week: barbecues are banned, Burnham is fooled and Farage wins Clacton
Home The temperature reached 38.1ºC at Kew Gardens, Surrey. In the West Midlands a wildfire at Stourbridge burnt down 19…
A toast to the heroic French firefighters
Provence ‘Imbeciles! I told them! When the fire comes on the hill there, it always goes that way… did they…
Tears and terror on the front line of the French wildfires
Provence As soon as I opened my front door I could smell it. Along the path, flakes of white ash…
Trapped with the plane passengers from Hell
Provence Under late June’s ferocious heat dome, during what turned out to be an almost eight-hour drive to join Martin…
Make men’s shorts socially acceptable
For a country which loves to talk about the weather, we do not do it very well. They order these…
What kills more: heat or cold?
Absolute mayor Andy Burnham wants more devolution and elected mayors. Do voters want that? – Since 2001 there have been…
Hot and bothered: Trouble Was, by Charlotte Edwardes, reviewed
Tempers boil over when nine-year-old Frank, his mother and siblings go to stay with an aunt on Exmoor in the blistering summer of 1976
Low life
Finally rain. None for months, then a violent tropical storm lasting two days. It marked the end of high summer…
Barometer
The longest heatwave How did the recent heatwave compare with that of 1976? That year, the temperature peaked at 35.9˚C…
Portrait of the week
Home In the contest for the leadership of the Conservative party, Jeremy Hunt and Nadhim Zahawi were the first of…
Low life
My two grandsons are staying with us here in Provence for a week. Roman soldier Catriona flew from Marseille to…
Low life
Provence-Alpes-Côte D’Azur A burning ball appears over the brow of the hill at seven o’clock every morning and then…
How to survive a French heatwave
Me in a black polo-neck jumper looking sour; Oscar wearing a floppy hat; her youngest daughter nude and stooping to…
Low life
My grandson and I are reprising the 1968 film The Swimmer. Burt Lancaster is an advertising executive at a pool…
