Cornwall cameo

After months of absence, Tomasz finally returned to our screens on The Great British Weather, as reporter. Joy unconfined, albeit a relatively brief joy.

He appeared around 34 minutes into the programme, firstly in the form of a report. We saw a sun-dappled Tomasz strolling across the North Pennines moors, musing upon that old weather adage: "Red sky at night, shepherd's delight; red sky in the morning, shepherd's warning" {i}.

He spoke to Cumbrian shepherdess Rachel Marston, who explained the weather is important to her, so she knows when to bring the sheep in (and other such things). She also stated that the theory "is more or less true". Indeed there is a basis in this; red skies occur when the sun is at a low angle, making the light refract red light. If there is clear skies in the west (most of British weather comes from the west), then there will rich red sunsets.

However "more or less" is not good enough for The Schaf, so he enlist Rachel's two daughters to keep a check on the theory. Rachel and daughters turned up at TGBW's live location of St Ives in Cornwall, along with His Loveliness. The results pretty much backed up the theory; "we don't need Tomasz", joked Rachel. Not to worry Tomasz, because we were treated to nice close-ups of you and you looked a treat in shorts.

Despite Tomasz's brief appearance on the show, there is more online, and you don't even need to press your red button. It appears Tomasz's strand in the show, is to explain whether weather folklore is true or not:
Drink me

Also two videos from the Blue Peter garden, featuring The Schaf giving us some practical advice-- not just how to look good in jeans and a navy t-shirt:





An i-player link for tonight's programme as yet to materialise, at the time of typing... but maybe a kind soul or two will have recorded it on that there Youtube. Pretty please. Maybe there will be screen-grabs too. So I may well update this tomorrow...

Meanwhile a shot of the set at St Ives.


Tomasz with Michael Fish, the BBC's longest-serving weather forecaster. Tomasz explains: If you watched last night's show, you will have found out that Michael gets whacked on the head with an umbrella each time he gets his forecast wrong! I'm hoping his prediction for next week's show is wrong!! ;) LOL............I'd do it gently of course! ;)



Finally Tomasz's take on the forthcoming St Swithin's Day:
There is no evidence to back it up, but it's not as silly as you might think. There is scientific evidence to suggest that if the summer continues to be unsettled (frequent spells of rain and only short periods of warmth+sun) beyond "the middle of summer" (ie now-ish), our chances of getting better weather vanishes. Basically, the Jet Stream "get's stuck in a rut" and is unlikely to shift. So, perhaps the bad weather in the coming days is, in fact, an ominous sign!

{i} Red sky in the afternoon, shepherd's house on fire. Alright, I made that bit up