I’ve been listening to a radio programme called “New Year Solutions”, all about ways we ordinary people can help to combat the climate crisis. Today they talked about water and how we use or misuse it. We tend to think we have plenty of water and no supply problems here in the UK. It often seems as though we have too much water. Certainly around her it doesn’t take a great deal of rain for the River Tame to suddenly seem very full as it bounces through the village.

However, it seems that we could easily have problems. London already has less rainfall than it really needs for supply to meet demand.  

In 2017 Cape Town was running out of water after a prolonged drought and people were people ordered to use only 50 litres a day or face the eventual arrival of Day Zero when water would be switched off. One of the water-saving mantras was about flushing the loo. Imagine a South Ifrican (deliberate mis-spelling, by the way) as you say:

“If it’s yellow,

Let it mellow!

If it’s brown,

Flush it down!”

This is advice most of us find hard to follow but we may have to start taking measures to reduce our water use. Apparently the average person in this country uses 152 litres per day. A bath uses 80 - 100 litres. A shower uses 50 litres - and some people have three showers a day (why do they do that?). Washing your hands with a running tap uses 6 litres per minute. So all the extra hand-washing we’ve been urged to do during the pandemic has really contributed to excessive water use, especially as for that kind of hand washing to be effective you need the water to run warm. We all wash clothes more frequently than we used to and many families use dishwashers as well - not me though! 

Of course, it’s not absolutely necessary to shower every day. I remember being in digs, as we called them back in the day, (lodging for younger readers) with an elderly lady in my first year of university. I was told that I could have one bath a week and needed to book it to be sire there was enough water. I got into the habit of taking soap, shampoo and towel one day during the week to the students’ union where for a small fee I could have a really deep bath, and wash and dry my hair. Those were the days! Mind you, it was quite normal to bathe and wash your hair only once a week. Were we smelly? I don’t think so.

Apparently it’s young people who are more likely to have three showers a day, having grown up with modern bathroom facilities. And yet they are the ones shouting loudest about climate crisis problems! 

Seriously though, it seems we should reduce our profligate use of water if we want to save the planet. Meanwhile, they’re already having wildfire problems in California. 

“It’s unusual to have fire this size here on the coast at the end of January,” said someone from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. “The fact that we had a fire this size is of great concern.”

Drought! Fire! Floods! Pandemic! The threat of war! The world is falling apart. I keep expecting to see four horsemen riding over the nearest hill!

So, to counter all the doom and gloom, here is a tale you would not quite believe if it popped up in a TV series:-

The Gardaí have launched an investigation after two men carried a dead body into an Irish post office in an apparent attempt to claim his pension. This was in County Carlow on Friday. A man went into the post office on Friday morning, asking to collect a pension payment for an older man, only to be told that the pensioner himself had to be present in order for the money to be handed over. 

So he went away but returned later with two other men, one of whom, the pensioner, needed supporting. Payment was again refused and two men fled the scene, leaving the pensioner propped up in a corner. On investigation he was found to be dead. The mayor of Carlow, Fianna Fáil councillor Ken Murnane, said he was “absolutely shocked” to hear the news.

“I was absolutely shocked to hear about what happened. I cannot believe anyone would do something like that. It beggars belief, I’m just shocked.”

The local Fine Gael councillor Fergal Byrne echoed Murnane’s words, saying: “The whole town is in shock.” He described the deceased as “a nice man by all accounts and someone who caused no offence to anyone”.

You couldn’t make it up! Will I be criticised for finding the whole incident mildly amusing? 

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!