HAVING FOUND MYSELF in a part of the country recently
where the only sound was the occasional chuff of the local flyer (curious how indigenously rural the sound of a railway steam engine has become: I cannot imagine feeling the same com- fortable way about the clack of an electric train) I heard more sound radio than usual, listening to weather reports. Am I being captious in suggesting that the BBC is mealy-mouthed when it refuses to name places which it refers to, if the reference happens to be uncomplimentary? I am thinking of its account of people being driven from the sea by an infestation of jellyfish at 'an east coast resort.' Presumably jellyfish do not choose their beaches : the next day they would have moved elsewhere, so it could hardly harm the resort in question? Good humour was restored, though, when I rang up to get the official recorded weather forecast for the district. At the end of the record. which predicted good weather, there was a brief but audible guffaw from the forecaster, as if he were tickled at the idea of anybody being so fool- ish as to consult him. But as things turned out, his forecast was close enough.
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