Kmflett's Blog

The end of summer?

September 1^st was the start of the Metrological Autumn and hence officially the end of summer. Astrological summer ends on September 23rd.

Of course the actual end of summer may be determined by things like the end of the school summer holidays in England and Wales, what the weather is like and so on.

I am most definitely not a weather forecaster, not even in the Bob Dylan sense. That can be left to the professionals at the Met Office.

Climate Change seems to meet both higher average temperatures some increasingly hot days and heavier rain too.

All these things determine summer, as no doubt do the nights drawing in. However it is also socially determined.

I noted adverts, as often, in the first half of August talking about the end of summer which aiming to sell things like school uniforms.

Its not a new issue. In fact until August 1965 the August Bank Holiday was on the first Monday of the month (it still is in Scotland). It was then moved to the last Monday because the developing tourism and holiday industry (this was the period of the post-war boom) argued for an extended summer period. The TUC did too because the demand in early August made breaks expensive and crowded.