I give up. I have been ignoring the crazy weather for weeks now, but no more! It is now the end of July and I am in my office wearing two layers, my teeth are chattering in a manner usually reserved for Christmas and the wind and rain are lashing a tempest outside my window. Half the country is submerged and more rain has been forcast until Riders of the Apocalypse trot onto the horizon.

Startlingly, the rest of Europe is baking beneath the forceful rays of the sun, with 500 people dying in Hungary alone. Bush fires are raging across Greece, Italy, Bulgaria and Macedonia, while Greece’s electricity grid is nearing breaking point as demand for a.c. soars and the high temperatures evaporate the rivers that generate hydro-electric power. And still Australia and the United States refuse to assume the mantle of progress by ratifying the Kyoto Protocol. It beggars belief.

Here are a few images illustrating the climatic dichotomy in Europe this summer, starting with the north…

…and then the south: