There was a massive storm where we are in south west France last night.
The crack of thunder was so fearfully loud, I fully expected the house to be cleaved right in half when I ventured out with the dogs first thing this morning.
The last time I’d heard such a roaring snap here was a couple of years ago when one of the garden walls was struck by lightning and tumbled into pieces.
This time, fortunately, the house was still standing. The ground was saturated with much-needed rain and the outside water butt was full to the brim.
There was a marvellous freshness to the air which I could almost taste.
The change in the weather is a welcome break from the soaring temperatures we’ve been experiencing for many weeks.
Family, friends and even readers of my People’s Friend column have been in touch, worrried we might have been caught up in the terrible fires that have swept through tinder-dry pine forests near Bordeaux.
We are fine, but the horror continues for so many in France, and in Spain, too. I heard that even Scotland is not immune, with smoke from a wild fire in the Cairngorms blowing into Aberdeen, nearly 60 miles away.
Climate change is the biggest threat to humanity and we ignore it at our peril.
The lower tempteratures continue here for a day or so and then it’s back to the new normal, with the weather app on my phone showing 38 degrees on Wednesday.
Take care, wherever you are.
Maddie Grigg 