1. What do you know about English weather?

The English are famous for their weather. It is never the same two days running. The weather in England changes more often than in the other countries.

The best time of the year in England is the spring and early summer. Spring is a time of good weather in Britain. It's all in bloom. It blooms in the cities and in the suburbs. Delicate pink cherry blossoms and white apple blossoms are everywhere. You should visit the apple orchards in the County of Kent to see a true spring in England. You can drive along them, these provincial, winding roads and enjoy the white and pink trees in blossom. England is lovely in these spring weeks.

The weather in spring is generally mild, but sometimes the days are really fresh. Spring is the season when nature awakes from its long winter sleep: the temperature grows, the sky becomes blue, and the sun becomes warmer. Everything is full of new life again. The days grow longer and warmer; the ground gets covered with green grass.

Then there show up tulips, which you can't take your eyes off. And then there is summer ahead, the white candles of chestnuts, blooming roses and their delicate fragrance, and lime-tree alleys. The rain will make the country cool, and you won't even complain of the heat here, even in July. But the rain will make the English foliage even more beautiful.

Summer is the hottest season in England. The sun rays become hot, the days are long, and the nights are short and warm. It's time for holidays, when people go to the seaside for sunbathing and swimming. It usually gets hot in July. The summer nights are short, but they are wonderful.

But the English are unlucky with their summer. The sea, which surrounds them from the all sides, and the wide, soft sandy beaches of Cornwall only tease you. You can't always have a swim even on the southernmost of the British Isles, the Isle of Wight. The sea stays cool even in summer. Only physically fit people are brave enough to splash near the shore. Most holidaymakers just look at the bathers.

September and October are superb in England. Indian summer here is long, sunny, and warm. The grass has become only slightly less bright. There are a lot of mushrooms in the woods, but the English never pick them up. The autumn is sometimes a time of very good weather, with clear blue skies and the sun shining every day. November's fog and snowfall aren't the most pleasant of things, but think of an Indian summer. Late autumn is generally an unpleasant season. Everything begins to take a different colour. The trees look bare. The flowers have faded away. The sky is overcast. Everything looks gloomy.

In winter, they can hardly forecast their weather. Sometimes it rains and sometimes it snows. Winter is the coldest season in the UK, with temperatures often dropping well below freezing. There are frequently frost-covered lawns and fields every morning, ice-covered car windscreens and sometimes snow. It is characterized by unsettled, windy and wet weather – which is worse for those living in the Northern and Western parts of the UK. The coldest month of the year in the UK is January, and December sees the least sunshine. If there is a long frost and the ice is hard enough, then everyone who has skates get them out and skates on the rivers and pools. But numerous ponds, rivers and lakes freeze over once in twenty years.

Hours of daylight are very short in Britain in winter, with London seeing no more than 8 hours of daylight at the end of December. But it’s okay because the streets are brightened up with thousands of Christmas lights! It might be a little cold, but you still can ski in Scotland!

So, English weather is very changeable and unsettled, and almost all the seasons are not very pleasant, but there are some spells of lovely weather, warm sun, beautiful flowers and magnificent nature. The English know where to live, after all.