I'm an optimist - probably one of those really annoying ones too…  But this Great British Summer rain is starting to grate. God, it's just started to rain and now it's actually hailing! 

Rainbow in London

Still, this mixed bag (okay, it's fairly one-sided on the wet side) of weather can mean it'll be sunny one minute, pouring the next. And if I'm out, I'll look to the skies to see if I can spot a rainbow. Soaking wet waiting for a friend yesterday, I spotted one and suddenly the rain wasn't so bad… See, I told you I was an optimist!

Anyway, as we start preparing for a possible wet rest of the summer and wet London 2012 (organisers have ordered in lots of ponchos), over in Belgium, tourism officials are preparing to sue weather broadcaster, Meteo Belgique. All because of a report published in June which gave a gloomy outlook for July and August. The offending report predicted only five days in the whole of July getting temperatures of over 25º celsius and a very dreary first half of August. Tourism officials say that the report led to lots of holiday cancellations on Belgium's coastal resorts. One official said "It's very hard to predict the weather so far in advance. So why make people panic? Our daily tourism totals about 200,000 people who each spend 35 euros. If they don't come, that'll mean a loss of €5 million to €7 million."

Tourism officials are hopeful that should they file a lawsuit, it would be successful after a Swiss resort successfully sued a private weather company who gave a false prediction that led to concertgoers staying home.

Sunnier days in Knokke-Heist

Leopold Lippens, mayor of the usually popular coastal town of Knokke-Heist told The Telegraph "These people must pay for the huge losses… We all know Belgium is not California, but we do get good weather. There is absolutely no scientific basis for making predictions so far in advance. They even said September would be a washout. We will sue on the grounds of misinformation."

Luckily, for British tourism - and this country never having been famous for its sunshiny weather, visitors come for other reasons. Get your ponchos, rain jackets and brollys out… there isn't anything we can do about the weather so if you're sticking around, just enjoy it regardless. 

And if you are heading out to more sunnier climes...

Escaping the rain

Would you rather be seeking shade from the sun than the rain?

Go beach exploring, mountain hiking and find amazing views with a cheap car hire from us. We've got great deals on all your favourite summer destinations including Spain car hire, Portugal car hire, Italy car hire and France car hire. Hell, we've also got Belgium car hire if you're planning a trip there as well as bargain car hire worldwide.