Heating up

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We have a red warning for extreme hot weather in the UK next Monday and Tuesday. Today (Sunday) is forecast to be over 30°C and not cooling to below that at night, then on Monday and Tuesday hot weather coming up from Spain is heading our way. Apparently its been up to 47° in places over on the continent with wild fires burning in Spain and Portugal. The weather service here, the Meteorological office, is concerned that additional deaths will occur because of it. They think there may be a few thousand extra deaths which is worrying. The highest temperature in the UK was in 2020, then it got to 37.8°C. This is a considerable increase above that.

The trouble here is that a lot of buildings are old, they are badly insulated so they don’t keep the heat in in winter or out in summer. Very few properties have air conditioning. I’m going to be sitting here with the fan on and a bottle of frozen water in front of it. What fun. X

Three hectic days!

Three day trip to Falmouth in Cornwall and back with ivans_uk_tours.com . We stayed at a lovely hotel. Travelling through the West of England on the way down, through Ludlow and stopng off for a picnic at Tintern Abbey. We went over one of the bridges over the river Severn. We arrived at the hotel in the evening and went off to find food at a pub called the Red lion. After that we walked back to the hotel over stone stiles through farm fields.

Day two was up at the Penryn Campus at Falmouth University. I was graduating so we joined in the celebrations with other students who were graduating in different aspects of the creative arts. The actress and comedian Dawn French is the Chancellor of the University and handed out a chocolate coin covered in gold foil out to each student. Later, I got to throw my cap and gown in the air with my fellow students. We left in the early afternoon to go in search of a cream tea. Instead we found a shop that would post out cream teas all over Britain. The ships figurehead was down a sloping alleyway that led down to the sea. We sat by the harbour and ate our scones with jam and cream (jam first!). A lovely meal at the hotel and then a hot and sleepless night as the temperature continued to soar.

On the final day it had cooled down, but even though I would have stayed an extra day it was not possible because of the cost. We decided to call at Bovisand Bay near Plymouth in Devon on the way home. We had a picnic there and a paddle (hubby swam). Then a steady drive back up the motoein increasing heat. We stopped off a few times. I’m sunburnt but happy. Very tired. I couldn’t really post much here as I didn’t have much Internet connection.

Skyscape

When the wind blows the sky changes. Heat is coming and clouds may be fleeing this weekend. Warnings of temperatures above 30`C are expected. High UV is predicted.

The British don’t really do ‘heat’, we go abroad for it, but we are more used to summers of wet weather, music festivals in mud, Wimbledon or cricket rained off. A summer can last a day as far as we are concerned. We even have Saint Swithens day. A day in July? If it rains on that day we can expect continuous rain for the next forty days and nights… And sometimes that seems to come true! One year I joked with friends that we should build an ark on high ground it rained so much….. Sunshine, nice for a day or two, but Britain appear to appreciate clouds. X

Hot

Why do I feel hot? I’m melting. Not my age? It’s winter, I’ve got the heating on. But I’m hot. I’m not ill, I was, but I’m getting better. I guess it’s because I have been standing in front of the cooker making tea (evening meal). I was looking for a drawing to show how I feel and this one from a couple of days ago illustrates it well. As you get older life seems to get more complicated. I swear I think bits are going to start falling off me!

Anyway, I’m feeling a bit better. But even so, I think I will have an early night. Life, its wonderful but complex.

Cool

It’s a bit chilly inside but I just put my dressing gown on. It keeps me snug. I am concerned that the price of gas and electricity is going up soon and that people won’t be able to heat their homes or food. So what can I do to save money? I’ve started sweeping up instead of vacuuming. I only do that once a week. I try not to use my car as much. I’ve only filled it up about six times this year. I also microwave some foods first to get them hot, then finish them off in the oven. For instance jacket potatoes. I’m wondering if there are other ways of saving power. Maybe I should use a hot water bottle instead of central heating? They say we should insulate our homes more. I did try and find out about that but we didn’t fit the criteria. I’m sure ideas will be thought of. Hopefully before climate change gets us!

Cop26

Glasgow is about to host the climate change talks between nations to discuss how to prevent the increase in Earth’s temperature going on average higher than 1.5°C above pre industrial times.

Average means across the whole globe. But some area have been experiencing the rise of temperatures more. For instance a high temperature of over 18°C in Antarctica was recorded this year.

In other places people are trying to live at 50°C, halfway to boiling point. Weather systems are getting more fierce, hurricanes, tornadoes, typhoons, forest fires, the melting of the permafrost. The extinction of insects and other animals and plants as they fail to survive the hotter conditions is increasingly worrying. The years after 2000 have been the hottest on record.

Let us hope that the politicians come together, stop denying climate change and get organised. Otherwise…. I don’t know.

Life above 50°

Can we survive global warming? As the world joins in a conference about it this November, reports continue about wildfires, carbon dioxide and methane emissions and damage to our natural environment.

Big business still seems to want to expand their production. Buy more stuff… Sell more cars… But using energy and resources is not going to help.

If temperatures go higher the worry is that there will be a runaway greenhouse effect. The result is a degradation of our environment. Water shortages, increased air pollution, damage to the health of not just us, but the whole planet. We are currently using more resources than the planet can provide.

I think humans can be incredibly generous, thoughtful, considerate. We can work together to stop the damage. Not in the future, but now. I do hope we realise that before it’s too late.

29.6°C=85.2°F

It’s warm outside

It’s a tad warm today. Britain is a maritime nation, an island, with weather coming from all directions. So we have all sorts of weather to contend with. You can have a whole years weather in a day. Sun, rain, wind, hail, snow!

Today, its 22.8°C inside and 29.6°C outside and rising.

Then comes the arguments. My hubby opens the windows to get some breeze. I close them and shut the curtains… I think it keeps the hot air out? Its getting warm, and it’s almost autumn. The last time it was this hot was in July, August was a damp, cool and unsettled month.

I do think it’s strange how the weather changes almost always at the end of the month or the start of the next. Is it just in the UK? I know in some countries they don’t have rain for years and others face monsoons. I guess we are lucky?

Forest fires.

The world watches as forests burn. In the Amazon, around the Mediterranean. In the North where the temperatures have soared.

We have been told by scientists and young adults alike, but many turn their backs to the truth. Climate crisis deniers are like ancient Nero, fiddling while Rome burned.

We must take action now. Reduce our carbon footprints. Even in small ways we can help. One degree less on the thermostat, walking instead of driving, house insulation and double glazing. Not much in scheme of things, better than nothing. Now we are used to Zoom why not meet on line? Ask the important questions. Do we need the car today, can you replace things when they wear out with second hand, pre loved items. There are so many people on the Earth, let’s be fair, share, and waste less.

Another month

Another month, the Earth has travelled another twelfth of its orbit round the Sun. Nights have started to get a little bit longer here in the Northern Hemisphere, shorter in the Southern one, and staying about the same on the Equator.

Sunlight heats the world and now more of its heat is trapped in our atmosphere because of the Greenhouse effect. Carbon dioxide and Methane emitted into the atmosphere are transparent to visible light waves but not in the infra red spectrum and they prevent heat being reflected out back into space.

I remember wonderful summers in the 1960’s, summer dresses, ice lollies. There was no hole in the ozone layer. We lived on a goldilocks planet where things were mostly comfortable. Now when you look at the graphs these years of the twentieth century have all been getting hotter, at a faster and faster rate. Stop and Think, try and help. Don’t let politicians bamboozle you with their hot air! Recycle, reuse, turn the heating down. Its up to all of us.