Weather

Thankfully, we've not had snow, but it's been very cold the last couple of days.

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0C when I got up this morning! Brrr. A heavy frost, but it's all melting away very quickly, although top temps of only about 8 or 9C are forecast for today.
 
Wonderful, wonderful rain! Two inches overnight and still going! Refilling the pond, with help from hosepipe diversions for water from our house roofs, and deeply watering ALL the dry garden, where up until yesterday I couldn’t get a fork into the hard baked earth.
Here in Whitchurch, Hampshire, we are in a meteorological dry pocket, often sheltered from the heavy rain or snow which falls on Andover to the West, Newbury to the North, Winchester to the South, and Basingstoke to the East.
Our only water supply for the Town is from a chalk aquifer, which is also the source of the river Test, four miles upstream of us. We are currently revising our Neighbourhood Plan to try to resist developers who are circling with proposals for hundreds more houses that are simply unsustainable for many reasons, including lack of water supply. The Test has been famous for the purity of its water, but even so far upstream it is suffering pollution from agricultural runoff and also the inadequacy of our local sewage works, many years outdated and built in a time when the population was very much smaller. The whole aquifer is becoming polluted and thus process is irreversible. Even if all pollution stopped immediately, it could never recover its original purity.
So today’s rain is very welcome, for several reasons.
 
We have had dribbles of rain on and off for past few days, forecast for another few. Its unheard of in June, but very welcome all the same. We also had a massive thunderstorm a few days ago, and although power is restored, we still have no street lighting, not that it matters as nobody goes anywhere at night, but with a new moon throwing very little natural light, it is very dark.

I feel for you Marigold. Chalk streams are a wonder of nature. We are not on chalk here in Portugal, but the clarity of the abundant streams reminds me of home very powerfully. Although there are few fish here, as most of the streams dry out over the summerr, only the large ones keep the water, and several of these are dammed in the season to provide river beaches and swimming spots, which are very popular. However, the waterways were powerful lifelines up until 50 years ago, the olive mills and tiny flour mills are always sited by the banks of streams, and we have an old saw mill close by as well, although now its in a state of disrepair. However, a few old fashioned olive mills are still in use, including one about 500m from our house.
 
We have had two days of rain and more forecast for Sunday and Monday. Our soil is heavy clay and the cracks are filling up nicely. The veg patch and the plants are loving it, did manage to get out and pick 7lb of gooseberries, in a brief respite yesterday, we could see the squirrels eyeing them up
 
Not a drop here in South Shropshire and they've changed the forecast for Sunday which was for rain. Just some showers forecast for Saturday night. Ground is quite hard and my gardener, whose partner runs the local funeral directors has been busy digging graves around the area which has been a real struggle.
 
Glorious here. The sun worshippers are as brown as berries. It’s a pleasure tending the animals. Took the dog out last night before bed at 11.45 pm. The “simmer dim” with a cloudless sky was amazing.
Pained to hear of the River Test being polluted. It was always synonymous for me with fresh water crayfish. These will not tolerate anything which isn’t pristine.
 
They're forecasting rain tomorrow. I'm hoping it does rain - we badly need it. But it's been wall to wall sunshine for days. Lovely weather! Would be nice if we could get the rain we need at night. And just on the vegetables and flowers, not on the grass! [emoji23]

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Lovely soft, gentle rain fell most of Tuesday night and all day yesterday. The garden has perked up beautifully !

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Still Scorchio!
32 in the shade here yesterday and looking like it will be that way again today and tomorrow.
 
So so glad I took the opportunity to move north eleven years ago. I always struggled with the heat down south. Today it’s 14C which is a pleasant temperature. Rain overnight means the grass will soon be romping away and the seasonal sounds and smells of grass cutting will begin.
More staycationing visitors this year. Great chats with folk and their tales of life in England. Slightly more disturbing this week was a front page report about how immigration and second home ownership are pricing local youngsters out of the communities they were brought up in. I have a lot of sympathy with their cause. Swinging council tax on second homes may be a solution. But then I’m an unreconstructed old socialist. It always triggers the xenophobes to their most intolerant statements.
However the events elsewhere pass this remote island by. Record number of incomers this year has lifted our population to 69. We still need many more to make our community sustainable. Again the demographics upset some (now 75% English) but the only constancy in life is change.
 
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We are well into the area on this weather warning map and feel very lucky not to have to go to work in the sun. We’ve been getting up early and taking Poppy out for a walk by 7a.m when the temperature is no higher than the 18C it’s been all night and it’s quite pleasant. Back in March when it was cold and wet we had a new aircon unit installed in the bedroom and when it gets too overwhelmingly hot during the day we camp out in there. Poppy has a hideaway camp deep under the bed in the cool. All powered by solar, so I don’t feel too bad about it. I need to wash my hair but can’t face the hair dryer. Our friends in Oregon would think this was nothing, it’s been up above 40C where they live, with terrifying wildfires into the bargain.
All watched from above by Geoff Bezos, marvelling at how beautiful and peaceful the Earth looks from Space, especially the Amazon rainforest. And thanking all the people who bought stuff from Amazon and made his 10- minute trip possible! The least he could do would be to pay his employees a decent wage on a proper contract and pay taxes to the countries he operates in.
See https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/jul/20/blue-origin-launch-jeff-bezos-space-travel-latest
Here is Poppy, peering out from her cave under the bed.
 

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I am so jealous of your 14C HenGen and your solar powered air conditioning Marigold. Wow.
We're on the south side of the Mendips so get the sun at full blast. Luckily we had plenty of rain before the hot spell arrived otherwise we'd have been in real trouble with the grass. The downside of the rain is that shearing has been delayed and is booked in for Friday. I only have a couple of sheep that sometimes run with my neighbours flocks - but it means I need to help gather all the sheep in Thursday ready for shearing Friday. It's not going to be pleasant for us or the sheep. The temperature is still mid-20s at 10pm. Thankfully Friday is forecast to be cooler.
I totally agree about second home owners - if you can afford a second home you can afford the extra tax needed to support the community there. I'm not particularly political but second home owners do make me seethe. If you want to move do it properly and move! I could also have a little rant about millions being spent on vanity trips to space while other much needed projects go unfunded, but I should probably stop here.
 
Agreed, Hen-Gen. Nice and cool here, warm enough but enough breeze to keep the midgies away. Not seen too many visitors here but we're off the beaten track and the local caff/hostel is still closed. The second home ownership problem occurs in every place that is picturesque, but it destroys communities. Just before we moved from Yorkshire 11 out of 13 houses in our street were second homes/holiday lets/ weekend cottages. Post Office/shop/school had closed down.

Poppy looks cool, Marigold. Our cats are hiding away until they want food.

Chick, I agree. My main grief is that these billionaires come back and still do nothing useful.
 
Marigold said:
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We are well into the area on this weather warning map and feel very lucky not to have to go to work in the sun. We’ve been getting up early and taking Poppy out for a walk by 7a.m when the temperature is no higher than the 18C it’s been all night and it’s quite pleasant. Back in March when it was cold and wet we had a new aircon unit installed in the bedroom and when it gets too overwhelmingly hot during the day we camp out in there. Poppy has a hideaway camp deep under the bed in the cool. All powered by solar, so I don’t feel too bad about it. I need to wash my hair but can’t face the hair dryer. Our friends in Oregon would think this was nothing, it’s been up above 40C where they live, with terrifying wildfires into the bargain.
All watched from above by Geoff Bezos, marvelling at how beautiful and peaceful the Earth looks from Space, especially the Amazon rainforest. And thanking all the people who bought stuff from Amazon and made his 10- minute trip possible! The least he could do would be to pay his employees a decent wage on a proper contract and pay taxes to the countries he operates in.
See https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/jul/20/blue-origin-launch-jeff-bezos-space-travel-latest
Here is Poppy, peering out from her cave under the bed.
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Poppy looks lovely and cool.

That's pretty much what we said about Geoff Bezos as well, all the Amazon staff we take to work, had to take unpaid leave to have their Covid vacs if it didn't coincide with a day off.
Add on Richard Branson asking for a huge bailout, last year then swanning up into space.

Hot here but we did have two thunderstorms yesterday afternoon which cooled things down nicely
 
Stepped out this morning to nithering cold. NW wind giving a ‘feels like’ temperature of 36F (2C). Those balmy days of summer now forgotten, checking bottled gas supply, hay supply and ordered three new fleecy tops. Lamb slaughtering in 10 days, tupping time in four weeks and the whole cycle starts again.
 
First little bit of frost today. Recent rains have filled the pond, which had got several inches below ideal level over the dry summer we had, once the unusually wet Spring was over.
They never mention Shetland on the BBC weather forecast, but I always look at the map to see what you’ve got coming your way, HenGen. I see the new series of Shetland has started on BBC, apparently two new series were filmed this year because the series due to be filmed last year was cancelled in lockdown. It’s great to see the islands, and go along for the ride on the stories. Did the influx of the film crew put up your Covid numbers, do you think, HenGen?
 
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