No doubt some of the crops have been saved thanks to irrigation, but unfortunately the pastures are barren. Even here in Normandy, the cows are eating the leaves off the trees while they wait for the fodder that the farmers bring them. The vegetation, which is usually lush, is dull and shriveled. So sad !
I hope the farmers were able to cut and store hay earlier in the year.
The barns are full, but normally they don’t start using that supply until winter!
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For me, in autumn and winter, there’s nothing better than a hand-knitted Irish fisherman’s sweater - I bought my first one about twenty years ago, it’s still being worn, but I’ve bought three more since and my wife now also has one.
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My mum knitted Aran sweaters for all of us every few years as they lasted such a long time even as kids. I miss those but don’t need such warm clothes these days anymore. I remember her sitting in the armchair watching TV with a pile of knitting on her lap with several needles sticking out of it where the cables cross over, I never had the patience to learn knitting. The Guernsey fishermen’s jumpers are good too but thinner.
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I also wore an authentic Irish sweater for a long time to keep warm, and tried to get my kids to wear one too, but gave up because they kept complaining that it was itchy 
. I eventually stopped wearing mine as well, because I felt it didn’t provide enough protection from the wind. Fleece is better for that, and it’s softer and lighter.
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Oh, that looks wonderful. 
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Well, we were promised cooler and fresher weather. Do you remember when you had a holiday booked to Spain or Portugal or Greece? You’d look up the weather a week or two before you went and see 27, 28, 29 degrees and think, as you “enjoyed” the British weather and 19 or 20 degrees, yes, I’ll have some of that. Well, those foreign holiday temperatures now seem to be ordinary British ones. Our “cooler” weather today has been 29.
I remember when we drove down through France 20 years ago with our 2 Airedales in the back of the merc packed high with bits and pieces around them that weren’t in the removals van and we were worried about how they would cope with a temperature of 27. 
You can currently visit Cumbria for a bit of nostalgia,Plod. 19 today and similar forecast for the next few days. If you’re lucky some light rain showers may be thrown in 
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Rain? What’s that?
TBH I remember things being a lot hotter than that 30+ years ago and a Greek holiday in the Peloponnese with daytime temperatures 40+ in 1999 or 2000. But yes, France was often a bit cooler than that, at least on the Atlantic side.
Some of us go back a bit further! Try late 70s.
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A decade before that I was still in the Northern Territory of Oz and was careful always to have a couple of canvas water bottles strapped to the bullbars.
BTW @Franglais , weren’t you supposed to be on an Australian holiday? What happened to that?
Did you all get torrential rain this morning? I drove down from Germany and as soon as I crossed the Rhine it started hurling it down, visibility very limited, pitch black sky, obliged to drive at 60 tops, I was creeping along (at 60, on the motorway!!) behind a Porsche from Frankfurt which was also creeping along at the same speed (reassuring for me) and decided to go and have some coffee instead of giving myself ulcers.
Personal grumbling apart it was marvellous to have a sustained torrential downpour, you could almost see the relief of the fields drinking it up.
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Woke up this morning to 20°C and while I’m having my morning coffee the ‘cold’ is bringing out goose pimples along my bare arms. Feel sane again, at last!
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Well, Spardo,or I should probably call you David here, (my own name is Brian by the by) that had to be put on hold because of health issues for my travelling partner. Long story short, she passed away a few months ago. 'nuff said. Antway we did get awat to \\india in March of '25, brilliant time, and a few weeks ago I booked myself onto a trip to Vietnam for this November. Aus is still on the cards for me for sometime in '26 but nowt booked at all. I also intend taking my 4x4 camper down to Morocco again sometime too.
A little question for you: in another thread you have buit a hide? Bird watching or all critters? I am far from any sort of expert in such matters, and one of my sisters recommended an app to me, it is the Merlin Bird ID app from Cornell Uni. Brilliant bit of free kit IMHO. Set it up to listen to the dawn chorus and it will pick out the birds singing and identify them. A real help for me.
I can see I’m going off on different tangents here…Should I be starting different threads? I await advice on what the residents of this commune suggest.
Still hot and dry as a bone down here. Have not seen any rain bar two mins flash shower since back in April/May and it really needs a good steady fall overnight to dampen everything down which is dangerously dry and a constant fire hazard.
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It’s a bit cooler here this morning but also no sign of rain. My meteo people say there could be some later in the week.