It's still rather chilly here in Frankfurt on Valentine's day. Yesterday the sun broke through and I had my lunch outside in the garden, although the ice was still floating on the water butt.
When I arrived in Germany to live at the end of 1991, it was so cold (-12) that I had to go out and buy a warm hat and scarf. I was not used to this in England. The summer of 1992 was fantastically warm and Matthew who was then only 5 then spent a lot of time at the outdoor pool. I learnt later that these were extremes for Frankfurt, but nevertheless on average, the climate is a lot warmer and less rainy than dear old England. I used to think that people were exagerating when they said it always rains in England, but from my visits back there, I know it is pretty much true. You only have to look at the weather chart to see all those clouds coming in from the Atlantic.
I don't think there has been a big change in the weather here since then. We had a very hot Summer in 2003, so much so that Humming Bird Hawk Moths started visiting our gardens to everyone's facination. I found out that they normally live round the Mediterranean but had been driven North by the extreme heat, flying over the Alps to get here. I think we saw the odd one in 2004, but otherwise they have retreated to their homelands.
The other freak weather we had was in 2005 when a tornado which tore down hundreds of trees in our immediate area and ripped off the metal roof of a nearby house. This is not something you expect in Frankfurt!
That's all for now
Peter
