I hoped that 2013 would be an improvement on 2012; the second wettest year in the UK and the wettest in England but it started with floods in the South of England. Tasmania and Australia are set for extensive bush fires and weather patterns are unstable around the globe. It is not a good start to the year. One of my frogs decided to go on a suicide mission up the hollow section of the pump filter and did not survive the experience; I now need to fill those hollow sections with foam to prevent any further, similar excursions but the ground is sodden and its cold and wet, not pleasant conditions for doing anything in the garden or around the pond. It's now 4 C with humidity at 94% and pressure at 1023 and I am hoping for some sunshine and a balmy 6 C so that I can modify that pump and filter without ending up a frozen lump hovering over a pond.

Stability is a largely meaningless concept for global weather. Naturally however those areas where nothing much is happening are not going to feature in the news.