Mother Nature makes an overture

Nature and technology coincided in a dramatic multimedia event as I drove home this evening. Classic FM was playing the William Tell Overture - not the famous bit at the end portrayed variously by the Lone Ranger, Mike Oldfield and Kenneth Williams but the whole four-part movement, of which the second represents a storm whipping up over Lac Leman: first a few raindrops and then a sudden escalation into nature's fury, beautifully conveyed through the orchestral medium.

And just as the storm hit Geneva on the airwaves, so it hit Harwell in real life: the dark clouds over Didcot were suddenly much closer, the wind was whipping the leaves off the trees in a cloud you could barely see through, and then came the rain, so strong I had to slow down.

Classic FM's marketing department has a surprisingly strong reach. I will look around cautiously the next time they play the theme from Jurassic Park.

Here's the bit I mean.

We must learn to weather the weather, whether we like it or not

The BBC weather site has had a revamp. Apart from new pretty pictures it now tells you where your weather is coming from. I entered the postcode for work, OX11, and was told I was getting Reading's forecast, that being the nearest available for that code. Reading is 25 miles away.

I entered the postcode for Abingdon, OX14, and was told I was getting the weather for, well, Abingdon. Which is 7 miles away.

For the record, the weather in far-off Abingdon is scheduled to be:

• 10:00 light showers, 14 degrees
• 13:00 light showers, 15 degrees
• 16:00 cloudy, 15 degrees

We Readingites are getting:

• 10:00 cloudy, 14 degrees
• 13:00 light rain, 15 degrees
• 16:00 cloudy, 14 degrees

I think I'd rather be in Abingdon. I work indoors, so the light showers won't affect me, and it'll be marginally warmer when I go home.