It is amazing how, in historical terms, we have become a nation of al fresco slurpers and scoffers.

The change has come about seemingly overnight.

Here we are in a country which, meteorologically speaking, doesn't know its beam end from its elbow.

Weathermen and women spout spurious nonsense daily about what emphasis the weather might be taking over the coming 24 hours or, even, the entire week ahead – and are quite often wide of the mark.

On a day when they have threatened us with downpours, nothing happens. Three days later, without warning we're then hit with a deluge of monumental proportions.

Yet none of this deters us from sitting outside to eat and drink in public places.

I know the anti-smoking laws mean that any place offering sustenance these days has to provide some outdoor area for the nicotine-addicted to gather. But that's not the sole cause, surely, of our unstoppable progress to an outdoor eating culture.

Nowadays, if you're a Brit, you are perfectly happy to sit in the open while communing and consuming anything from a cup of coffee to a proper three-course meal.

Walking around the centre of Bristol on an early afternoon recently reinforced this view.

Any food or drink provider with access to the pavement had placed tables and chairs outside their premises. These were not just for the sole occupation of smokers, either.

How much easier it is, for example, if you have a pram or push-chair to plonk yourself and all the various add-ons down at some eating emporium without having to negotiate tricky things like hostile swing doors. I speak from experience here in my grandparent role.

The thing that struck me, however, was the fact that this particular afternoon was not one of the warmer summer ones. Yet no one was deterred.

It's as if we have all become hardier beings, because there were none of those heat lamps in situ at these eating places to warm things up.

I think one of the attractions is the fact you can watch the world passing by much better from these vantage points than you can from the inside of premises looking out.

I'm a fan of the al fresco movement and have some favourite places of my own in and around Broadmead.

If it's quiet contemplation you need while you munch on a Marks & Spencer sandwich purchased from the premises virtually next door, then the little oasis that is the courtyard adjoining John Wesley's historic New Rooms is brilliant.

Until quite recently it was my number one location but it's being challenged right now by the hot dog spot that lies straight ahead of you, by the new flagship Primark, as you come down Union Street.

Here as you munch on your bratwurst, fried onion and curried sauce snack, the world and his wife passes by.

It doesn't even matter if the heavens open, either, as that curious mast structure provides more than adequate shelter.

Legging it further afield then the Corn Street area, especially in and around the Corn Exchange covered market, is another must-sit location. The extra incentive here is that there's a fascinating array of foodstuffs on offer, too.

The strange thing is that this Great Outdoors cafe society doesn't go away when summer ends like it does on the Continent.

No one packs away the tables and chairs in Britain these days. Come November they will still be placed there. And they will still be full of people eating and drinking. Braving whatever the elements can throw at them.