The UK has an obsession with the weather. Along with fish and chips, tea and football, that is one of the biggest cliches about our country. As with so many cliches, however, there is a grain of truth hiding amongst the mythology: in a country where the weather is quite capable of changing from blinding sun to pouring rain, hail and snow in the space of an hour or less, it is hardly surprising that the subject frequently makes an appearance in conversation.