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