It was hot and stuffy in the shop today, though not as hot as I thought it would feel. I await the next few days with interest to see if we set a new record, as predicted. It will give us something new to complain about in terms of weather.
We don’t really handle heat very well in the UK. Or snow. Or rain. I would have thought that we would have had reports of water shortages by now but we still seem to have plenty of water left. It shows how average our weather is, that any extreme seems to cause us problems. having said that, I noticed a man watering his garden with a hose a few mornings ago.
I was annoyed that he was doing so, as it seemed a waste, considering that he only had a few scrubby plants in a very unimaginative garden. However, I was even more annoyed that he was watering so badly. If you are going to water you should use plenty, and he was merely sprinkling a few drops here and there. if a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing well. And he wasn’t doing it well.
The current heatwave may well see us breaking the 40 degree barrier for the first time ever – our current record is 38.7 degrees. If you are reading this in Australia, that’s right, the UK is about to close down at a temperature that equates to “quite warm” in Australia.
The political climate continues unchanged, with Boris Johnson still classed as a villain. As the weather threatens to kill numbers of vulnerable people he missed an emergency meeting and hosted a party at Chequers. Considering that he did a fairly poor job as PM most of the time, I don’t see why people expect him to do a good one now he has stepped down.
That is a bit serious for me so I will go to bed now and wake refreshed, humorous, and ready to face another hot day.
I really struggled to find a header picture depicting “hot”.
It was a good header picture in its own right, I thought.
To be fair about our capacity to handle weather, we don’t get much snow or much heat so it always comes as a surprise to us. On the other hand we often get more rain than we can use at once and there is very little that anyone can do about that. If we spent a lot of money getting ready for two days of snow and one day of heat every other year, you might well be writing trenchant blogs about project fear and waste.
Sleep well.
I am quite keen for us to store more water, because we don’t have enough for our growing population to wash their 4x4s. The fact that this will involve flooding a valley that we need to use as a landfill site, is a political balancing act.
On the other hand I’m actually happy for us to close down due to snow (probably three days a year once every three years), just not happy for us to be surprised and run out of salt. And let’s face it, compared to many countries our “snow” is not much more than a heavy frost.
I remember us having a lot of snow once. It came to over my head in places the winter of 1963. Of course, in 1963 my head was considerably lower than it is now. 🙂
The real snow was the winter of ’48. That came right over my wellies.
That’s something else that belongs in my past – haven’t worn wellies for years – no need for them in my sheltered town life.
I am sorry to hear it is so hot there, 104 degrees F. That is hot. The hottest I have seen it here in my immediate area was 112 degrees F. We seem to be getting a reprieve, so far, this summer.
Stay hydrated and out of the sun as much as you can.
I am. The sun and I have never been easy companions on account of me turning red and peeling easily, which I take as a hint. 🙂
Sobering when heat records are broken. More to come, I am sure. When will we wise up?
The year that we burn up, the crops fail worldwide, drinking water supplies fail and people all turn to each other and say “someone should have done something about this”.
Even if we control climate we still have so many other things to worry about. 🙂
Sigh. Change is too slow.
And despite my efforts I still use too many resources. However my reward for cutting back is that I see 1.000s of people flying off on holiday, soaking up any savings I may make. Doesn’t really inspire me to do too much more.
I feel the same way about the resources I use. By US standards, we live a very modest life. By world standards, not so much. Still, we keep trying.
Yes, that’s the important bit – keep trying. 🙂
Always.
Your words painted the picture well
Thank you. 🙂