It’s odd listening to news broadcasters going on about this having been a hot summer, indeed a hot year. It doesn’t feel like it here, despite today being rather hot and sticky again. Not as hot as yesterday … yet … but already quite muggy. I should have been walking round Dovestone Reservoir, one of our local beauty spots, with an old friend right now but she cried off last night, telling me the hot weather was making her feel headachy and ill. She was planning instead to sit in the shade in her garden and read, probably a good decision.
I can’t say I was surprised. In fact, I was quite relieved as I had seen a couple of her social media posts where she had described feeling faint while out and about in the hot weather. I did not fancy having to deal with a collapsed friend, even one under five feet tall, on a longish walk round the reservoir.
It’s odd though as I had always thought of her as a warm weather person. When we used to work together we were constantly adjusting the heating in our shared classroom. I would go in after her and have to open windows, even in midwinter, as she always had the radiators turned up high and even an extra electric fan heater to keep her warm. Then she would complain bitterly about how cold the room was after I had used it, especially if it had been one of my very full A-level French classes. It’s amazing how 20+ teenage bodies can heat a room!
She suffers badly from arthritis in the cold and damp winters and yet hot and sunny makes her feel ill. What she craves is an old-fashioned, gentle English summer: long sunny days, maybe a gentle breeze, no extreme heat but maybe some rain-showers in the middle of the night (but only then) to keep everything green!
Granddaughter Number Two would agree with her. She relishes cold weather when she can wrap up in chunky, warm sweaters or curl up with a book under her duvet. Even as a toddler she used to remove layers of clothing as soon as she went indoors, which made shopping something of a nightmare!
I am, as you might have guessed, a little sceptical,about this having been a hot summer. But according to this article, the UK had 170% of average rainfall this July, making it the sixth wettest on record. Not a hint of scepticism about that statistic on my part. However, it seems that the world is in danger of running out of water. Maybe we all just use more water than we used to - we shower more frequently, we wash our clothes more frequently, we put pots and pans and plates and dishes in the dishwasher (well, not me personally as we don’t have one) - but somehow you would think think the water would cycle round and be sufficient for our needs. Surely we aren’t sending it off planet!
Anyway the article I gave the earlier link to gives some advice on saving water. I was amused at the idea of showering with your feet in a basin to catch the run-off. The idea is to use the saved water to flush the loo. We already have one of those mats in the bathtub to stop you slipping while showering and I now visualise falling over my feet as I try to stand inside a basin as well! It’s bad enough that I can step into the shower and switch it on only to discover that I have forgotten to activate it with the switch outside the bathroom door, which our plumber insisted had to be outside the bathroom for safety reasons! So I have to clamber out and deal with the outside switch.
That’s enough of that - we already follow quite a lot of the advice given.
Moving on to other things in the world, here is a nice cartoon about the school buildings problem:
It seemed quite appropriate at this time of year when apparently it’s obligatory to post pictures of offspring about to start primary school or move on to secondary school. Usually such pictures are taken outside the front door for some reason. As a person who has never understood the importance so many people put on school uniform, I am quite glad my offspring are well past that stage. Photos of adults dressed for their first day at work after the holidays somehow don’t have the same cureness factor!
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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