I woke up at about 5.00 this morning to the sound of quite torrential rain. Of course, the rain might have had nothing to do with my waking at that time. I might well have woken then anyway. I listened to the rain briefly and then went back to sleep. It seemed to have stopped by the time I got up a few hours later to go for a run. I put on my running raincoat just on case but when I opened the door and looked out it had begun again, not quite torrential but heavy enough. I decided a more efficient raincoat was needed after all. My running raincoat is fine for a light drizzle but useless for anything else. Putting on a proper waterproof worked like a charm - five minutes later the rain stopped completely. By midmorning a rather watery sun had emerged.
One consequence of our alternating rain and warm(ish) sunshine is that the grass in the back garden is growing at a furious rate. When we had the heatwave - is that really only just over a week ago? - we didn’t cut the grass because it was too hot and cutting it short might lead to scorching it. Now it’s too wet and would just clog up the lawn mower. That’s our excuse anyway!
The footpath through the wooded area between the two millponds was like a jungle last time I pushed my small grandson along there in his buggy, leading to a mix of delighted laughter and squeals of protest as we had to push overhanging grass out of our way. Since the rain returned the path has reverted to muddy puddles. Some helpful person has cut down quite a lot of overhanging grasses and the path is now strewn with fronds, rather like palm leaves on the road into Jerusalem. This means that some of the mud puddles are not obvious until you put your foot in them or, worse, slither through them, risking an unplanned sit-down!
It is all looking very lush though! Meanwhile, at the other end of the country Southern Water is implementing a hosepipe ban in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. (Isn’t Hampshire one of the places where hurricanes hardly happen? I even googled it to check up on the saying, an elocution exercise I believe: “ln Hertford, Hereford and Hampshire hurricanes hardly ever happen”. I was right; they may not have hurricanes but neither do they have enough rain apparently.)
About 1.5 million people are expected to be affected by the measures. But other parts of the UK may follow suit as water levels in reservoirs and rivers drop. Goodness! Most parts of England of have not had drought measures implemented for more than a decade but the Met Office tells us that July 2022 has been the driest July in England since 1911, with only 24% of the amount of rain that would be expected in an average July.
When the rain wakes you at 5.00 am it feels as though all that 24% is falling on us. Climate change can keep you awake at night. It’s one of my personal bugbears and I keep finding related news items. Here’s one from Australia where money intended for developing a state-of-the-art facility to protect endangered koala bears in a theme park was diverted into building a state-of-the-art rollercoaster. Because we all need state-of-the-art rollercoasters, don’t we?
Then there is this report about the planned Green Man Festival in Wales. It is feared that if it goes ahead in the planned location endangered wildlife habitat will be put further at risk. Which is rather ironic as, according to Wikipedia the Green Man “is a legendary being primarily interpreted as a symbol of rebirth, representing the cycle of new growth that occurs every spring. The Green Man is most commonly depicted in a sculpture, or other representation of a face which is made of, or completely surrounded by leaves.
And finally, here’s another bit of irony, the report of a reforestation company that accidentally caused a huge wildfire in Aragón, Spain.
Another of my bugbears in the whole nonsense of Brexit, which I begin to suspect has destabilised more than just the UK. If I could find a way of blaming Brexit for the pandemic, I would do do! Meanwhile, there is this:
“Jacob Rees-Mogg has accused civil servants of blocking Brexit and launched a major review of Whitehall, according to Telegraph reports.
Concerns have been raised among Cabinet ministers that government workers could be “standing in the way” of government policy by “dragging their feet” over enacting policies that they disagree with.
“Over the last few years there has been a growing feeling that while lots of parts of the Civil Service have got bigger, have they got more effective?” a senior government source said.
“Are ministers’ decisions properly being taken forward? Are things agreed at Cabinet actually happening? Is the machine standing in the way of things happening by our elected government?”
It begins to sound like an idea for a series on TV. Oh, yes, I think that’s already been done!
But it seems that even some of the conservatives are now wondering if Brexit has not caused quite a lot of problems, maybe even more than it has solved! Oh dear!
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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