James Salter

Smog

The government has issued its first smog warning in two years as a result of the current mini-heatwave. I certainly noticed it this morning - smoke from the various chimneys around the A3 was just hanging about in the air.

It was even worse driving back towards London this afternoon. You could see the smoggy haze. The London Air Quality Network say air pollution levels in London are “moderate”, although their bulletin map shows a couple of areas of very high pollution.

Of course, London’s air pollution is nothing compared to that of other European cities where these temperatures are more common. If this is bad, am I going to see anything at all in Athens the week after next?!

Tim’s out

Hurrah, it’s Wimbledon fortnight, the two weeks in the year when the whole country pretends to be fascinated by tennis. The majority of us may not care about the sport for the other 50 weeks, but at the moment every other conversation has something to do with rackets and balls.

Tim Henman (remember him?) has already managed to crash out of the tournament, demolishing our hopes for another year but the action at SW19 continues for another week - there’s still time for some decent servings, not necessarily on the court, but of strawberries & cream and a glass of pimms.