The 18th July was a good day. It was the end of my twentieth year of my teaching career. It was also the hottest day of the year. My car said 33C at one point.
Phew! Just been for a 20 minute drive so I could feel vaguely human. Sorry earth, I will plant some trees! pic.twitter.com/KUxvlTt6iP
— Ian Parish (@iparish) July 18, 2014
That night there was also the most almighty storm. I was sitting watching television when it went darker than normal and so I went into the garden. I saw a sight I can tell you. The sun was setting in the west and it was bright in that direction but to the east and south it was dark and foreboding. There was no noise but there was a lot of lightning over towards Maidstone.
After a while I could hear what I thought, at first, was rain but it was a slight breeze going through the nearby trees. Then all of a sudden the wind really picked up. It became a constant driving wind and then the rain came, large spots at first and then torrential. The lightning and thunder was just spectacular.
These are two videos I took to show the electric storm over the Weald of Kent.