Rain. Fires. Going on holiday (or not) in these difficult times. Agreements.

It was surprisingly warm when I went out for my morning run today, not especially sunny but there was some blue sky between the clouds, with a brisk wind blowing everything around. We’ve had quite a bit of rain since, some of it heavy but mostly rather drizzly. In fact. We’ve had quite a lot of drizzly rain the last few days. I blame our milkman, who told me on Wednesday that we need a good week of rain to make up for the seeks of dry weather and then the few days of heatwave! Maybe it will be enough to soak our peat moorlands and avoid wildfires.   

Other parts of the world, indeed other parts of Europe, continue to have very hot weather and frightening outbreaks of fire. Here are two headlines from today’s newspapers:  

California: Thousands evacuated over wildfire near Yosemite as California governor declares emergency.

Greece: Lesbos tourist resort evacuated as wildfire destroys homes. 

Scary stuff! My Italian friend who tells me we need to adjust to the idea of having a “proper summer” meeds to bear that in mind! 

Of course, it’s almost a tradition here in the UK that the weather turns foul as the schools finish for summer. Our smallest granddaughter hasn’t actually broken up for summer yet; she still has a couple of days to go. Her mother’s school has broken up and our daughter has received a mass of cards and present from her grateful small charges. When did it become such a normal thing for a stack of gifts as well as cards to be given to teachers? Is it to make up for not receiving a decent pay-rise?

Oddly, at least one store that sends me regular email/adverts is advertising “back to school” clothes. Really? Already? I fully expect the pub next door to start putting up notices about booking early for Christmas! 

The continuing chaos at Dover and surrounding areas is not helped by this weekend being the start of the school holidays. Everyone feels the need to dash off on holiday. This is our moment. France waits until the start of August for ‘le grand départ” and Italy hangs on until mid-August, the “ferragosto” signalling the moment to rush away to the seaside or the mountains. And these are countries where the schools finish for summer earlier than in the UK, as far as I know. What do they do with the school kids in the meantime? Personally, I am glad not to be setting off on holiday this weekend. 

Elsewhere Russia and Ukraine signed an agreement to get grain out of the country. Is this a sign of a willingness to talk? I wondered. And then, before we knew it there was an explosion in the port of Odesa. Russia has now said they did it but they weren’t targeting grain ships but a military target! It’s a very mixed up situation!

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!