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Will, this all happen on line.... distance could be a problem if not!!! Unless you all fancy Spain for a BBQ

No, not Independence Day. Will be partying tonight but am afraid it's a hen night a friend of mine is getting married on Friday.

The climate disturbances caused by El Niño occur when the ocean currents are sufficiently warm and persistent to cause a reversal in the normal weather conditions of the eastern and western Pacific. Normally, the waters of the western tropical Pacific are warm, with temperatures more than 10° C (18° F) higher than the eastern waters of coastal Peru and Ecuador. The air pressure is quite low over the warmer waters. Moist air rises in the region, causing the clouds and heavy rainfall characteristic of south-eastern Asia, New Guinea, and northern Australia. In the eastern Pacific, the water is cold and air pressure is high, creating the typically arid conditions along coastal South America. The trade winds blow from east to west, pushing sun-warmed surface waters westward and exposing cold water to the surface in the east.

During El Niño, however, the easterly trade winds collapse or even reverse. As the slight weakening of the winds causes a modest change in sea surface temperatures, the change in wind and pressure increases. The warm water of the western Pacific flows back eastward, and sea surface temperatures increase significantly off the western coast of South America, affecting the cold, nutrient-rich upwelling of the Humboldt Current. As this happens, the wet weather conditions normally present in the western Pacific move to the east, and the arid conditions common in the east appear in the west. This brings heavy rains and flooding to South America and can cause the collapse of the monsoons, as well as droughts in south-eastern Asia, northern Australia, India, Indonesia, and southern Africa. It can also bring unusual weather to large parts of North America. The situation is further complicated by atmospheric disturbances, such as those triggered by the 1982 eruption of the Mexican volcano El Chichón, which occasionally extend the southward flow of the current even further.

Economic effects of El Niño are felt particularly in coastal Peru and Ecuador. These cold-water zones normally support large populations of fish, especially anchovies. The fish are caught commercially and also provide food for seabirds, whose guano is an important component of the regional fertilizer industry. However, during El Niño a layer of warmer, nutrient-depleted water from the west covers the plankton-rich eastern coastal waters, thereby seriously affecting the food chain. The fish and birds die or leave the area in search of food, thus upsetting the economy of the region.

The El Niño events that began in 1982 and in 1997 were the most severe of the 20th century. Other recent occurrences began in 1972, 1976, 1987, 1991, and 1994.

Oysters always seem erotic to me, maybe it's to do with the way they are eaten.

I should go see a doctor if I were you.