It noting to do with location as I go to SE every week and it really the same as here, SE this month is really worse than the Midlands in term of rain amount last Thursday that thankfully did not reach here, this will be weeds galore for the garden I don't want to pull as I did cleared out last late July.
But I live in the SE 24/7 and it's quite different from what your occasional(?) visits suggest. Think on this: I have solar water heating and I haven't turned on the gas boiler since the end of April - and I've had hot water on tap all that time.
Try not wearing sunglasses perhaps, it'll look brighter
And we needed that rain to undo some of the effects of inordinate quantities of sunshine.
Everyone talks about the weather but no-one does anything about it - Mark Twain
Chichester 12m asl