'Tis the 15th of July as the song goes, and the feast day of St Swithun, an Anglo-Saxon bishop of Winchester and subsequently patron saint of Winchester Cathedral. After several miracles during his lifetime, he died on 2 July 862, and gave orders that he was not to be buried within the church, but outside in a vile and unworthy place. A hundred years later, he was moved from his grave to an indoor shrine in the Old Minster at Winchester, traditionally on 15th July; whereupon it started to rain and didn't stop until his body was returned to the original grave some 40 days later. So, if it is raining where you are today, then sorry, you've got it til the end of August! I am happy to report that here in London, although it did rain a while ago, it was a short shower and came before 7.00am - and as we all know, 'rain before seven, fine by eleven'.... and we could use the moisture (don't worry, it seems to work fine with daylight savings time)! LTS
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