Rain !!!

I was in S Wales yesterday and all we had was a 15 minute shower. Too late to see a "blood red" moon I caught glimpses of the partially obscured moon on my drive home - one advantage of driving with the roof down. It didn't look as though there had been any rain here in Shropshire either, or at least where I am. I have an external thermometer which is in the shade but I don't know how accurate it is - 18.5 at the moment and it does feel pleasantly cool. Our nearest weather station is at Shawbury, about 35 miles north of here.

You still get weekly collections Marigold? Ours alternate - garden waste one week, general rubbish and recyclables the next, but I agree, they are heroes as are the chaps who work at the household tip, that stinks enough in cold weather!
 
Whoopee! We had lots of very heavy rain last night! Not whoopee, I had to get a ladder out and clear one of the downpipes during the height of the downpour! But my, it was so satisfying when I cleared the gunge from the top of the pipe, to hear the sudden "whooosh!" and see what looked like gallons of water come out the bottom! And this morning, it was a bright clear morning, and there were loads of birds just sitting out on the damp lawn, preening themselves! They looked so happy! :)
 
The temperature has plummeted here from 36.5C on Friday, 32C yesterday, now around 20C and feeling cold. Has a few mm of rain this morning and I did see the red moon last night.

I used to visit Shawbury regularly for technical courses in a building next to the helicopter base- a very noisy place indeed.

We don't get collections here. Our garden waste has to be composted, burnt in Winter or taken to the tip (as does glass). We have shared recycling and waste bins at the top of the hill and deposit our stuff in them on the way into town- that's the system in the countryside in France.

I've taken the mesh off the guttering because it blocks regularly and now catch the leaves in potato bags before they go into the water butts.
 
I had to smile, chrismahon. 20C and feeling cold. We’ve not reached those heights this summer but it was 18C a couple of days ago. People were sat in the shade drinking cold lager and complaining about the heat.
 
We still get a weekly general rubbish collection and a fortnightly recycling collection. Yesterday was the day for both kinds, but nothing has happened. The Veolia contract runs out in September, and although they have been reliable on the whole for quite a few years, they're now suffering lack of manpower and ageing vehicles which break down and delay collections. The new contract has been given to SERCO, which doesn't bode well, I think. Apart from their reputation, they must have come in with a lower price than Veolia, which means either cutbacks or a poorer service, or both.
Temperature down to 20C today - I've felt human again. Actually did some washing, decorating and cooking, instead of lying around feeling like a jelly.
 
Neither of you are like jelly.
Well the rain here petered out once the eclipse finished, so not enough to do any good, yet 4 miles down the road they had a downpour for several hours. No rain at home today but a good soaking where we both work, and 40mph gusts of wind
Wonder what will happen tomorrow
 
The wind blew down a marquee at Glaslyn so they've had to cancel two events this weekend. Such a shame as they don't get much funding from outside sources. Had about an hour of steady rain, one clap of thunder so computer and router were switched off and unplugged. The wind has dropped completely.
 
I used to puzzle why the locals were in jackets whilst we were in tee shirts when holidaying in France Hen-Gen. Now I know. You get used to operating within a certain temperature range and it takes time to adjust. A pleasant 31C this afternoon and tomorrow but no more rain unfortunately. See from the news that the UK is due for some very heavy rain so that will be a relief for many I think.
 
Soooo, after a lot of rain yesterday and a huge downpour last night, it has been "raining cats and dogs" since I woke at 6.45am...and continues, along with strong winds. I noticed the cold last night, when I closed the hen coops. It's strange how your body sort of gets used to the high temperatures. This morning I was considering putting the heating on :shock: , so had to have a word with myself. :D

I can almost see and hear the grass and flowers, joyfully dancing in the rain storm.
 
Started raining here about 8.45am,and raining nice and steadily. It smells lovely and fresh, even the hens look happier wandering about in the cool, and thinking perhaps this rain stuff isn't so bad after all
 
I'm glad to hear most/all of you have got rain!

You have all had a hotter and drier May/June/July than me, we haven't been above 30 much. Chris is right about getting used to heat, 30-32 is now my ideal temp, it was 'only' 27 yesterday and I had long sleeves on to start with. Anyway, I got a real shock by seeing Countryfile last night said there would be temps of 48 in Portugal in the coming week. That is ridiculous, like being in Qatar or somewhere. Anyway, upon investigation I could only find a top temp of 45, which is still way beyond my comfort zone, and we are forecast 43 on Weds, which, if true, will be the hottest I have encountered here and in a year where we have not been softened up beforehand.

Weather often seems to change around the time of a full moon I think. We managed to see the eclipse quite well, but it wasn't in the least bit red for us, just slow.
 
And another thing :D . Apart from Arctic snow gear I’ve never worn a hat. But this year I’ve had to invest in one of those caps with a sunshade. It’s electric blue. Not sure whether I’m getting balder (surely not) or the sun is getting stronger ie. less air pollution but either way I feel a bit of a numpty wearing it in public. Still rather that than the dreaded sc.
The only comfort is that every other bald/balding man here wears one and everyone uses high factor sun block so it appears that they’re right.
 
Much better to wear a hat than get the dreaded SC Hen-Gen. One of our drivers was taking the Mick out of OH for having a straw hat on whilst out and about, as he stood there bald headed and red in spite of having had 3 ops for skin cancer including having part of an ear removed in April.
You could say to people if your head gets really hot it revs up your brain cells and makes you super intelligent and you don't want to show anyone up.
Watched a super Red necked Phalarope locally this morning, having a stop off on it's long journey South.
 
bigyetiman said:
Watched a super Red necked Phalarope locally this morning, having a stop off on it's long journey South.
Click to expand...
Good. We’ve had more breeding pairs here this year than for a long time. Good habitat management I guess.
More bizarrely we had a golden oriole that stayed for about ten days last month. Also minke whales, orcas and a basking shark so a good year.
The large reduction in bonxie numbers this year due to poor weather when they were migrating (remember the beast from the east) will hopefully result in a successful breeding season for waders.
But most of the seabirds - deeply depressing.
 
Good news for your Phalaropes, and for waders in general with the lack of Bonxies. Sea birds situation is pretty depressing. Always nice to see an Oriole, miss them now they no longer breed at Lakenheath. They used to breed in the black poplar plantation that was planted and sustained by Bryant and May match makers. But when they stopped using the site the trees started to fall and the marsh and reed bed started to encroach and the rest is history.
Sea Eagles bred on Orkney this year so next stop Shetland Hen-Gen ?
 
It's been much cooler today in Nottinghamshire, with a few scattered showers. I went for my evening bike ride and on the last stretch, where OH and me cut through the field of maize, the sight at the top is breathtaking. Sadly, his phone camera does not capture the beauty as much as the eye can experience. :-(
 

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We have a Golden Oriole flying around us. Recognise the call as we had one at the rental, but it's difficult to see here because of the trees.

No rain for at least a week. Apparently we have 36C and completely clear skies due from Thursday to Monday so it looks like 5 days of hosing the runs.

SC is on the increase in France apparently but one thing that is now never mentioned by any of the media that I've seen is the hole in the Ozone layer. So how big is it now? I did notice on my last visit to the UK in June that when the sun came out, even for a few moments, I could feel my skin burning immediately and yet I was the ONLY person wearing a hat. The sunshine doesn't burn like that down here, although we did have one very unusual day last week when it did. I've also notice that I no longer get the water blisters on my arms that I had in the UK- they were caused by a sun allergy I was told? Sun cream protection factors have increased massively over recent years. Factors 4-8 were fine at one time but now you can buy factors 30 and 50?
 
According to recent studies, the hole has shrunk, due to the ban on CFC gasses. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2018/01/05/hole-ozone-layer-has-shrunk-thanks-ban-cfcs-nasa-confirms/
 
I'm going out for a long walk this morning. Now the weather has turned a bit cooler, I'm needing to get back to taking some exercise, which I haven't during the long weeks of heat. I'm just not able for it at all.
Mind you, I could get soaked this morning! It's very dark out there, with quite a wind blowing. Huge black clouds around. Still, I need to get back to exercise. I've become a couch potato during the heatwave! Time to get myself moving again!
 
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