Weather. Climate change. Getting back to normal. Getting statues back.

The rain that woke me a couple of times in the night was so heavy that I am surprised that everywhere is not wetter and muddier than it is. And yet I managed to go for a run this morning without being rained on. The bridle path had a few more muddy puddles than yesterday but is still passable. At the point where the path forks into a lower and upper path this morning I opted for the top path as there were slow moving walkers on the bottom path. That’s where I got my feet wet, running through wet grass.

It has remained very grey since then but according to the forecast we might get some sunshine in the early evening as we did yesterday. Walking along our “secret path” I snapped some nice shots of sunlight through trees. We’ll see what today brings.

Even though the sun seems to have deserted us for the time being, at least in the North West of England, climate experts are warning that the likelihood of the UK experiencing deadly 40C temperatures for the first time is “rapidly accelerating” due to the climate crisis. Mind you this might not happen in my lifetime as research shows that such searing heat could become a regular occurrence by the end of the century. All this unless carbon emissions are cut to zero.

Global heating has already made UK heatwaves 30 times more likely and extreme temperatures led to 3,400 early deaths from 2016-19. The highest temperature recorded in the UK is 38.7C, set in Cambridge in July 2019, while the summer of 2018 was the joint hottest on record. The new analysis found an increasing risk of even higher temperatures.

So we need to fight climate change as well as the virus!

In Uppermill yesterday I noticed that the Big Issue seller is back. She’s not been around throughout the lockdown. Is this a return to normality? Has she travelled in on the bus? She’s certainly not local and I am pretty sure I have seen her in the past travelling from Lees, a few miles away. Maybe she’s not afraid of braving public transport.

Over in the United States, well, in New Mexico anyway, they have been pulling down statues that represent the Spanish influence on their history. Poor old Columbus has been attacked - if he hadn’t gone exploring paid by Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, then someone else would have done so - it wasn’t malice aforethought on his part. Even Cervantes has had his statue graffitied and all he did, as far as we know, was write Don Quixote. Now it seems that some Spanish towns are offering to take the statues off the hands of their US owners.

One set of monuments hard to pull down are the presidential faces carved into Mount Rushmore. And yet Native Americans would like to prevent Mr Trump from visiting the site, not because they fear he might attack the monument but rather so that he and his retinue do not bring with them a whole host of Coronavirus bacteria. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jul/01/mount-rushmore-donald-trump-sioux In fact, however, there have been suggestions that the carvings should be removed as Mount Rushmore has spiritual importance for the First Nations.

And, finally, here is a satyrical representation of Mr Johnson and pals, stolen from somebody’s twitter account:-

“We are the hollow men
 We are the stuffed men
 Leaning together
 Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!” -

TS Eliot (obviously)

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!