Luke Marsden: A garden party in July – wear your best poncho and bring an umbrella!

I turned 36 last weekend and hosted what I thought was going to be a scorching hot garden party – it turned out to be wetter than an otter's playground at Chester Zoo.

I even had to purchase a pop-up gazebo in an attempt to spare my guests from getting drenched, at the time of writing this the gazebo is somehow still standing.

After the champagne was in full flow, people did begin to forget about the fact that in the middle of July, they were sat in duffle coats and held umbrellas above them during the party.

Apparently I needed to get a gazebo with sides as the gale force winds blew the rain straight onto the buffet. Clearly, I’m older not wiser.

Where is this so-called European heatwave?

I was in Manchester dragging out my birthday celebrations earlier this week and the projected sunshine was murky grey clouds.

Meanwhile 6,000 miles away Las Vegas is seeing record highs including up to 50 degrees, right now in Wigan I’d settle for half of that.

I saw one person on Threads (yes I’m a threader now) say they put their heating on this week.

Switching the heating on in July sounds like the start of an awful joke.

My big concern is that summer is well and truly over and we may as well just slap up the Christmas trees now.

Swap the BBQ for Christmas lights and be done with it.

June was apparently the hottest month on record – I’d hazard a bet that July won’t be breaking that.

I saw some commentator say that we in the UK should be grateful that we actually get proper seasons unlike those in say, Las Vegas.

I’m not saying I’d want to attempt to walk around in 50 degrees but I’d like to be able to at least wear a T-shirt without a jacket in July.

Should we be worried? Global warming is ravaging the planet, but given how July has been one long downpour I get there may be some people sceptical of its impact.

Now, where did I put my poncho?