Last July we were waiting anxiously to see if the weather would break in time for the Warley Woods Picnic in the Park. After weeks of rain, it miraculously relented, and on picnic day the Sun broke through and hundreds packed their hampers and headed off to picnic!

This year it's the opposite. A couple of weeks of sunshine and a fair number of decent weekends of good weather, and people are now wondering if it could possibly hold until Sunday. Well, the BBC weather forecasters are saying, yes, it will (although the more mature of readers at recall Michael Fish denying an impending hurricane just hours before gale force winds of up to 122mph battered Britain, causing £1.8 billion of damage and killing 19 people).

Anyway, Michael Fish has retired, and with temperatures forecast to be in the high 20's this Sunday, it may be worth considering the old Aussie sun warning, slip, slap, slop! Slip on a t-shirt, slap on a hat (or a hankie if you're English), and slop on some sunscreen!

The other thing to consider is bring plenty of water (alcohol can dehydrate you) and if you have got a dog with you, make sure you bring some water for the dog.

That done, shake out the picnic blanket, clean out the mucky bits at the bottom of the cool box, check the batteries and headphones for the portable radio so you can follow that other Aussie tradition of losing to England in the Ashes… and you're ready to rumble!!