Ghastly June day in London

One for the record books - while Warsaw sweltered under a cloudless sky (31C), London was beset by the most wretched weather. It rained all day; in the afternoon temperatures reached 9C. An appalling June day - it felt like mid-October. 52 mm of rain drenched London today - the equivalent of an average June's rainfall. Central London was a sea of umbrellas, ill-tempered people splashing through puddles, traffic jams exacerbated by road closures. So many people who set off for work wearing summer clothes, tourists leaving their hotels without having checked the weather forecasts, wet, miserable, shivering.

I was planning to walk from the Kingfisher plc headquarters in Paddington to the Polish Embassy - I ended up sitting in a bus diverted around a road-closure on Oxford Street, thankful for the traffic jams that kept the bus moving at walking speed or slower. Inside the bus it was warm and dry.

When I got home and undressed, I found that the label inside my suit jacket had become sodden through my 'rainproof' jacket and had left a square, yellowish imprint on the back of my shirt.

Below: Sheltering under an archway, Margaret St, London W1.

Cold, wet, annoyed. Despite the rain, I did actually manage to walk over 16,000 paces.

UPDATE 13 JUNE

Still raining. Fourth day in a row. The River Brent has burst its banks in Perivale, cutting the footpath between Perivale and Pitshanger Park. Too wet to take the camera for my walk, so image capture on phone, quite unsatisfactory quality, but one for the record.

Oh to be in Warsaw in June!

This time last year:
Perfect weather week in Warsaw

This time two years ago:
Further progress is unimaginable

This time three years ago:
Baletowa reopens as rail works move on

This time six years ago:
Polish doctors in UK offer new healthcare model

This time nine years ago:
The closure of the Góra Kalwaria - Pilawa railway link

This time 11 years ago:
My blazing bus pic gets on front page of Gazeta Stołeczna

This time 12 years ago:
Storm clouds rising