Watering our roses is going to involve a bit more manual labour than some of us are used to from today, as seven water companies impose a hosepipe ban on the south east.
The water companies in question are Thames, Southern, South East, Anglian, Sutton and East Surrey, Veolia Central and Veolia South East, affecting around 20m people. Flouting the ban could land you with £1,000 fine, and some of the suppliers have set up hotlines especially for neighbours to grass each other up for sneakily sprinkling their snapdragons in the dead of night.
Washing one's motor on the driveway is also out of bounds though you can still use a bucket and sponge. If you have fish in your pond, you can top up the water. Check the Guardian's handy list for what the ban actually means and what you can and can't do.
In the meantime, we can take comfort that with rain inevitably forecast for the bank holiday weekend, the lawn won't turn brown just yet.
Photo by jan bode in the Londonist Flickr pool