At this time of year thoughts always seem to turn to wondering if we’ll get a white Christmas. For a while earlier this week it seemed a little like we might, with freezing cold temperatures and frost; it was, to use the old saying that I love, cold enough to freeze the balls off of a brass monkey.

All of a sudden, though, the weather changed; it’s warmer, but above all wetter. Perhaps another soggy Christmas is in the offing?