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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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rainfall
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Rain and lush pastures have long seemed part of Britain's image, whether in the clown's final song in *Twelfth Night ('With hey, ho, the wind and the rain, ... For the rain it raineth every day') or Blake's vision in *Jerusalem of 'England's green and pleasant land'. But in several dry summers since the mid-1980s there has been talk of drought, with restrictions on the use of water in parts of England. There are two reasons. Modern society, with its washing machines, uses more water than ever before; and the most populated area of Britain, the southeast, is relatively dry, while the northwest has more rain than it can use. In all parts of the country the drier period is not high summer (July and August) but February to June.
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