EUROPE THIS WAS THE SUMMER THAT WAS " SUMMER'S LEASE HATH ALL 
TOO SHORT A DATE, " SIGHED SHAKESPEARE IN THE 18TH SONNET, 
BUT AS FAR AS MOST OF WESTERN EUROPE IS CONCERNED, THE 
SOONER THE LEASE RUNS OUT THE BETTER . AFTER ONE OF 
THE WORST WINTERS IN MEMORY, THIS SUMMER HAS PROVED A THING 
OF WIND AND WETNESS, OF A COOL JULY AND AUGUST SNOWS, 
OF RECORD RAINS AND BLIGHTED HARVESTS, OF BURGEONING PRICES AND OTHER 
IRRITANTS . IF SUCH CRISES OF DAILY LIVING WERE MINOR COMPARED 
WITH THE TEST BAN TREATY OR SOUTH VIET NAM, THEY STILL 
MEANT A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GOOD TIMES AND BAD FOR MILLIONS OF 
OTHERWISE FLOURISHING EUROPEANS . .BRITAIN . PLAINLY, THE SEASIDE WAS FIT 
ONLY FOR THE FISH, AND HOTELKEEPERS REPORTED THAT BOOKINGS WERE OFF 
15Q6 . FOR THE HARDY SOULS WHO WENT, GETTING THERE WAS 
NO FUN EITHER, SINCE BRITAIN HAS ONLY 250 MILES OF SUPERHIGHWAYS 
(COMPARED WITH GERMANY'S 1,870) . SINCE A SWEEPING MOTORWAYS PLAN WAS 
ADOPTED SEVEN YEARS AGO, THE BRITISH HAVE BEEN BUILDING ROADS AT 
MODEL T RATES, AND PLANNERS PALE AT THE THOUGHT THAT BY 
1980 THE CURRENT CAR POPULATION OF 6,000,000 WILL HAVE TREBLED . 
MOTORISTS GROW PLAE AT A MORE IMMEDIATE PROSPECT : " TRANSPORT 
MINISTER ERNEST MARPLES' PLAN TO IMPOSE PARKING-METER CHARGES OF 35 #$ 
AN HOUR IN PARTS OF LONDON . PERHAPS MOST SYMBOLIC OF 
BRITAIN'S SUMMERTIME COMPLAINTS WAS THE STUTTERING PROGRESS ON THE RENOVATION OF 
NO . 10 DOWNING STREET, RESIDENCE OF BRITISH PRIME MINISTERS SINCE 
1735 . A PARLIAMENTARY COMMISSION PRONOUNCED THE PLACE A " HORROR 
" IN 1958, PACKED HAROLD MACMILLAN OFF TO NEARBY ADMIRALTY HOUSE 
BEFORE THE FLOOR GAVE WAY BENEATH HIM, ESTIMATED THAT IT WOULD 
TAKE TWO YEARS AND $1,100,000 TO REPAIR THE BUILDING . BUT 
NO END IS IN SIGHT AFTER FIVE YEARS AND $8,500,000 . 
MATTERS WERE NOT HELPED BY 14 WORK STOPPAGES . BUT THEN, 
THE BUILDING WORKERS WERE ONLY FOLLOWING A PATTERN, FOR THIS, AFTER 
ALL, WAS THE SUMMER WHEN EVEN THE BEEFEATERS IN THE TOWER 
STRUCK FOR HIGHER WAGES . .FRANCE . WHAT MOST EXASPERATED FRENCHMEN 
WAS THE FOUL WEATHER . IN BIARRITZ, 400 HOUSES WERE FLOODED 
IN ONE DAY, AND IN THE SOMME DEPARTMENT, A VACATIONER DIED 
OF EXPOSURE WHEN HE FOOLHARDILY WENT SWIMMING . THERE WAS ALSO 
THE WINE CRISIS (SEE WORLD BUSINESS) AND FEAR OF INFLATION . 
THE LATEST PRICE INCREASES AFFECTED BREAD AND POSTAGE STAMPS ; SINCE 
CHARLES DE GAULLE CAME TO POWER IN 1958, THE PRICES OF 
250 ESSENTIAL ARTICLES HAVE CLIMBED 25 PER CENT , EXCLUDING RENTS, 
WHICH HAVE SOARED 82 PER CENT . PARIS NEWSPAPERS SPOKE OF 
A " GRAVE CRISIS, " BUT THE GOVERNMENT PUT OFF A 
SCHEDULED DISCUSSION OF THE ECONOMIC SITUATION UNTIL MIDMONTH, WHEN AT LEAST 
THE WEATHER MAY BE BETTER . .GERMANY . DESPITE THE ABUNDANCE 
OF FOUR-LANE, CEMENT-PAVED AUTOBAHNEN, WHICH ARE BEGINNING TO CRUMBLE AT THE 
EDGES, 10 MILLION CARS OWNED BY PROSPERING WEST GERMANS AND COUNTLESS 
TOURIST AUTOS CLOGGED THE ROADS IN WHAT DER SPIEGEL CALLED " 
THE LONGEST TRAFFIC JAM IN THE HISTORY OF THE OCCIDENT . 
" ONE TIE-UP STRETCHED 20 MILES, INVOLVED 4,100 CARS . SOME 
MOTORISTS HAVE BEEN SEEN DRAWING WATER FROM NEARBY BROOKS AND WASHING 
THEIR CARS WHILE WAITING FOR TRAFFIC TO GET MOVING . WHAT 
SADDENS SOME GERMANS EVEN MORE THAN THE TRAFFIC IS THE NEWS 
THAT MORE THAN 200 OF THE ANCIENT DWELLINGS IN HEIDELBERG'S ALTSTADT 
THE " OLD TOWN " WHERE GENERATIONS OF HEIDELBERG STUDENTS LOVED 
TO STROLL ARE NEAR COLLAPSE FROM NEGLECT AND FUNGUS ROT . 
LOATH TO DESTROY THE ALTSTADT (AND ALONG WITH IT A LUCRATIVE 
TOURIST TRADE), HEIDELBERGERS ARE EQUALLY RELUCTANT TO TRY TO RAISE THE 
$50 MILLION NEEDED TO RESTORE THE BUILDINGS . .ITALY . SUMMER 
SKIES WERE SUNNY IN ITALY, BUT THAT CREATED ITS OWN PROBLEMS 
. TOURISTS FLEEING FROM THE FROZEN NORTH CREATED COLOSSAL TRAFFIC JAMS 
AT THE BRENNER PASS AND THREE-HOUR TIE-UPS ALONG OTHER ROADS . 
ITALIANS WHO FLOCKED TO SARDINIA'S MUCH-BALLYHOOED COSTA ESMERALDA, WHERE THE AGA 
KHAN IS BUILDING A RESORT, FOUND THEMSELVES QUARTERED IN HALF-FINISHED HOTELS 
WITH NEITHER LIGHTS NOR HOT WATER . AND THE ANNUAL CRUSH 
OF GERMAN TOURISTS NEVER QUITE MATERIALIZED . OFFENDED BY A RASH 
OF ITALIAN-MADE ANTI-GERMAN FILMS, SOME GERMAN NEWSPAPERS ADVISED THEIR READERS TO 
TAKE THEIR BUSINESS ELSEWHERE . THOUSANDS DID SO, HEADED FOR YUGOSLAVIA 
INSTEAD . .THE LOW COUNTRIES . IN THE NETHERLANDS, THE WEATHER 
HURT THE CORN CROP AND STUNTED DUTCH BULBS, DRAINING THEM OF 
THEIR BRILLIANT HUES . IN BELGIUM, THE FLAX CROP IS BAD, 
AND THE WHEAT HARVEST IN SOME PLACES IS ONE-FOURTH ITS NORMAL 
SIZE . BUT OF GREATER CONCERN TO THE BELGIANS THAN THE 
MEAGER HARVEST OR THE TEMPESTUOUS WEATHER WAS A NEW LAW THAT 
GOES INTO EFFECT THIS WEEK, CREATING A FORMAL LANGUAGE BARRIER ACROSS 
THE LAND . DUTCH WILL BE THE OFFICIAL TONGUE IN THE 
FLEMISH NORTH, FRENCH IN THE WALLOON-DOMINATED SOUTH, WITH POCKETS OF BOTH 
PEOPLES STRANDED ON THE WRONG SIDE . MONTHS OF DEMONSTRATIONS CULMINATED 
LAST WEEK WHEN HUNDREDS OF FLEMINGS CLASHED WITH WALLOONS AT OSTEND 
. IT WAS THE BEER-BIBBING BELGIANS, WHOSE PER-CAPITA INFLOW OF 34.3 
GALLONS IS THE WORLD'S HIGHEST, WHO PUT A FOAMY HEAD ON 
A DISHEARTENING SUMMER . THEY SCHEDULED A NATIONAL BEER FESTIVAL AT 
THE CHATEAU DE FRAITURE IN LIEGE PROVINCE, BUT BEFORE THE GUZZLING 
COULD EVEN GET STARTED, THE CHATEAU BURNED DOWN, LOCK, STOCK AND 
BEER BARRELS 