Two topics have dominated British conversation this summer. The first is water, of which, for a while, there was both too much and too little. In a conjunction surreal enough to inspire disbelieving exchanges between strangers, the country was afflicted by both floods and-would you credit it?-a drought-induced ban on householders using hoses. This paradox united several of the nation's favourite themes: the absurd caprices of bureaucracy; a sense that Britain somehow manages to cock things up that other countries do not; and rain.
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