Only in Britain

. . . could you have this story. Bookies lose shirts as record tumbles, says the Guardian (and in a special report, no less!) What record is this that has such an enormous impact? Why, the weather, the temperature! And the really British thing about it is that, even though temperatures have officially been measured in Celsius for decades, it was the "magic" numbers of 99 and 100 on the F scale that the punters bet on. This so wonderfully combines the British impulse for silly vices (they will bet on literally anything) and the obsession with the weather (which outstrips even Minnesota's, though I would not have thought that possible.)
Does the fact that I am blogging about it mean I have gone native at last? God, I hope not.