Now that Labour Day weekend is over, it may be time to register what a strange summer it has been in Bermuda.

No-one will disagree that it has been very hot and very humid, much too humid for human comfort. In the earlier part of the summer there was a great deal of rain, hard rain. Where weather is concerned, it has been a quite miserable summer and some people may well be concerned that intense summer heat is the pattern for the future.

Aside from the weather, there has been politics. Usually politicians are either asleep or away in the summer. Not this year. Even after the Legislature adjourned, there has been a good deal of political talk, much of it created by the impending General Election.

For most of the summer, Bermudians have played the political guessing game, When will it be? Mid-October. No, she'll wait as long as she can. I'm betting late November. It won't be in December, Bermudians don't like their Christmas messed about. She'll wait until February. No, you don't understand, that's not possible. And so it has gone, along with controversy over London's attitude toward the proposed White Paper on the remaining dependent territories; the Premier's trips abroad in search of solutions to British citizenship and protection for Bermuda's international company sector; the PLP's ready acceptance of a challenge for their leader to debate Premier Pamela Gordon followed very quickly by a smoke screen rejection of the debate; Rodney Smith's treatment of his tenant; big drugs busts; not to mention Bermuda shorts and lizards.

Hovering over everything has been the sex scandal surrounding the President of the United States which could now lead to his resignation of the Presidency.

Uncertainties in US politics do affect Bermuda. All in all, with the confusing ups and downs of the stock market, the debate over whether we are about to suffer another recession and the political and economic chaos in Russia today, it has not been the lazy, languid summer Bermudians have been known to enjoy.

One thing is certain. The autumn will not be a great deal better. The General Election has to be upon us and we are constantly told how important the coming election is to Bermuda. As we see it, claims of its importance are largely politics.

There is no great crisis in Bermuda. The Country and the people are in good shape. Indeed the economy is very strong. That economy will suffer if there is a recession in the United States simply because that is the way of the world, but Bermuda weathered the last recession very well, thanks to the care taken by successive Finance Ministers.

The election is likely to be very close whichever way it goes. But we must remember that Bermuda has had hard to call elections before, notably the last election which was very close, as was the election of 1980.