After a nail-biting finale, the European team just pipped the USA to the post at this year’s Ryder Cup. The tournament is golf’s showcase international event, and its prestige was served well by some remarkable performances on both sides.
Unfortunately, it was the atrocious conditions that dominated the early stages of the competition though, with long rain delays that forced play into overtime on Monday … when, sod’s law, the weather made a volte-face and bathed the country in glorious sunshine.
Well, what can you expect from Wales in October?
In truth, Britain in autumn can be a challenging place to live. Hurricanes, like the famous one of October 1987, might be blue moon events. Wind and rain, however, are guaranteed. Add in the fading daylight as the days shorten and it starts to sound a bit bleak. No wonder so many millions of Brits dream of escaping to a life in the sun.
Mind you, in New York, where I spent a year at the turn of the millennium, the descent from the broiling heat of summer to freezing winter is even more precipitous.
By contrast, in the corner of north-eastern Spain where I lived until recently, the thermometer frequently nudged 30°C through to the end of October. Calm, sunny days meant there were a lot of leaves on the trees right up to Christmas, and oftentimes we could still venture out in T-shirts.
But now we’re back, experiencing our first autumn in the UK in eight years. I confess, weather-wise it is nowhere near as appealing as where we have come from.
The upside is the warmth we enjoy from being back among family and old friends.
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