11 OCTOBER 1963, Page 17

Very III Winds

Hurricane Flora reminds us tritely but truly that our climate is merely lousy and not awful. In fact, our weather is such that we find much of our pleasure in being unable to cope with it. I was at the helm of a small yacht in the Kyles of Bute last month in gusty gales that made her heel like a sot and I bitched and whined at the crew because the adrenalin was squirting out of my ears. But the worst that happened was that we chucked it and picked up a mooring and went ashore. On another day the clouds had gone and so had the wind, and we sat glum in gumboots and wondered how anybody could possibly endure such weather. It is this capacity for sul- len resentment of trivial climatic phenomena that has made us what we are today.