Global Gloom Warming: Summer is now like Winter only slightly warmer and with more leaves.
Yes, I’ve got the kids down with me for ‘Summer holidays’. Yes, we’re looking at the weather forecast trying to work out what we can do.
UK parents, we all know that feeling, don’t we? And, no, it’s not very accepting but, hey, I just need to let it out, ok?
Nothing but rain, rain and more rain. The tent, it seems, is destined to remain in the attic. The tent that’s made exactly one outing since it was bought three years ago. I say ‘outing’ because it made it to midnight on a rain-lashed campsite in Cornwall before we abandoned the attempt and drove home.
Seasonal depression aside, have you ever noticed how the more you look at weather forecasts, the more unsatisfactory they turn out to be – both in terms of the lousy weather they predict but also the user experience? BBC seems to have done away with its plain, easy to read chunky sun / rain / white cloud graphics and replaced them with a stupid animated sequence. This appears to be an attempt to mimic the equally unsatisfying Met Office animated forecast: both seem to forget that you miss the forecast while fiddling with the playback controls.
Which (sigh) given the state of the weather every summer, is probably a blessing. But I do think there’s a real online opportunity here. Holiday companies, take note. Create a decent forecast experience and a constant stream of depressed UK holidaymakers will be yours for the taking.
