Coping With Our Climate
Sorry about the short blog yesterday, but really felt it was safer to move away from the window and computer whilst we had the very unexpected thunderstorm. The huge hailstones rattling on the bedroom windows woke B, they were that large. I've never known the weather as bad as it had been this year when it comes to rain. It is raining heavily again today but so far no thunder.
We had a warning on the news yesterday that if we keep getting a lot of rain then we will have severe flooding over the winter months as the ground is already saturated and cannot take up any more water. They said one in five houses could get flooded (am presuming this means in the low lying areas), and it is suggested that folk move all their important things (documents etc) from ground level to upstairs to keep them safe.
When we see the terrible conditions left after flooding, my B says if it happened to us, he'd just give up. Many people flooded out earlier this year still haven't been able to move back into their homes, and of course if floods happen again, probably it could take years before they can.
One wonders what is happening to the world's weather, it does seem to be bad all over our globe. Some places are having severe droughts, other places have massive earthquakes and tsunamis. The century of fairly mild weather that we have had may be more abnormal than normal and it's worth keeping that in mind. However our neanderthal ancestors (and later others) managed for thousands of years to cope with no modern conveniences or technology in very adverse weather conditions, so if they could, then am sure we should be able to now, although as I said to B it does seem as though we have gone 'soft' over recent years, relying too much on everyone else to do what we ought to be doing ourselves. Reading about people in the recent American disaster finding the disruption of their Internet connections causing them to almost panic makes me fear for the future mindset of our younger folk.
Just imagine if something (natural or human) disconnected our electrics for days, maybe weeks. Everything we do these days seems to be run on some sort 'press buttons'. We couldn't buy food from a store that has electric cash machines, we couldn't even get cash from 'the hole in the wall'. Banks couldn't give out cash as their computers would be inactive, no petrol for the same reason. Our fridges, freezers, central heating, cookers wouldn't work. Perhaps we wouldn't even be able to get water as this is probably pumped to us. Would we even be able to use our phone land lines? Perhaps we could use our mobile phones via satellite connections but we can't charge up the batteries when they go flat. We would need to have wind-up radios to get any information on what to do. And wind-up torches to let us see where we are going in the dark for there would be no lights other than candles (if we are lucky enough to have these).
Who could cope with a life like that? Certainly the old(er) folk would have a good idea how to. The rest would have to learn. Maybe time to start finding out now/
Doom and gloom may this sound, but fortunately I'm too old for it to concern me, unless Nature decides to go one step further these next few years. It's bad enough now, I'm shivering with cold, the house feels damp (it must be as the lawn outside squelches and leaves puddles when walked on, so goodness knows what is under our floor boards, we are now getting loads of slugs coming indoors for protection from the wet! ), and have to say that I'm feeling pretty fed up at the moment, but then never at my best when the weather is wet, damp, windy, and cold - as it has been most of this summer.
From our weather charts it does seem as though quite a bit of the UK is getting some good weather and hopefully sunshine, here in the north-west it is normal to be wetter than most of the country, and recently the rain seems to want to fall over Morecambe and surrounding countryside and not move on elsewhere. As ever, it is what happens to me that concerns me most. How selfish is that?
As you can guess, I'm not in a 'foodie' mood at the moment. Did manage to knock up a Beef Strogonoff for B's supper last night (took all of 10 minutes), and this he did enjoy. He ate more of the Chocolate Muffins (heated in the microwave) with cream, and have to say these have kept moist far longer than expected (muffins are usually best eaten day of making). We've managed to work our way through most of the chocolate popcorn.
Tonight B is doing bar duty at the social club where they are having a musical evening with 'pie and peas' so won't need to get him any supper. Not sure what I'll make for myself. Still have loads of odds and ends in the fridge, including veggies, so will probably not need to order from Riverford this week. It's been several weeks since my last veggie box was delivered, and as I haven't ordered groceries from Tesco am finding my food budget is looking remarkably healthy - even allowing for a D.R. delivery of meat a few weeks ago. How much simpler it is to cook using mainly 'fresh foods' rather than rely (maybe too much) on food stored in the larder.
What is in my larder at the moment I'm hoping to hang onto as long as possible to help see me thorough the long hard winter that I'm sure is heading my way. Normally I'm a very positive sort of person, but what with one thing and another, at the moment am feeling pessimistic about almost everything. I really must try and bring myself back into 'survival mode' and regain the enjoyment that 'coping' always used to give me.
Gill will be phoning tomorrow, so if I get up early enough will be able to write and publish before she rings, otherwise the blog will be later. I will try to be in a lot better mood tomorrow - and probably if I switch the radiator on in this room that would help (this room does not have central heating). Blow the expense.
I've a feeling I'm not going to write interesting or even nice things today due to my sorry state of mind, so think it's better if I wind up today's 'miseries', and go and eat something naughty to cheer myself up. Am sure by tomorrow I will be back on track and be able to concentrate more on the good things in life. Food comes to mind as we all know the best way to cheer ourselves up is to eat something nice. Trouble is today 'nice' can be 'expensive', so let's hope I can come up with some really cheap ways to lighten our sorrows. Hope you manage to have a good weekend, and can join me again tomorrow. See you then.
We had a warning on the news yesterday that if we keep getting a lot of rain then we will have severe flooding over the winter months as the ground is already saturated and cannot take up any more water. They said one in five houses could get flooded (am presuming this means in the low lying areas), and it is suggested that folk move all their important things (documents etc) from ground level to upstairs to keep them safe.
When we see the terrible conditions left after flooding, my B says if it happened to us, he'd just give up. Many people flooded out earlier this year still haven't been able to move back into their homes, and of course if floods happen again, probably it could take years before they can.
One wonders what is happening to the world's weather, it does seem to be bad all over our globe. Some places are having severe droughts, other places have massive earthquakes and tsunamis. The century of fairly mild weather that we have had may be more abnormal than normal and it's worth keeping that in mind. However our neanderthal ancestors (and later others) managed for thousands of years to cope with no modern conveniences or technology in very adverse weather conditions, so if they could, then am sure we should be able to now, although as I said to B it does seem as though we have gone 'soft' over recent years, relying too much on everyone else to do what we ought to be doing ourselves. Reading about people in the recent American disaster finding the disruption of their Internet connections causing them to almost panic makes me fear for the future mindset of our younger folk.
Just imagine if something (natural or human) disconnected our electrics for days, maybe weeks. Everything we do these days seems to be run on some sort 'press buttons'. We couldn't buy food from a store that has electric cash machines, we couldn't even get cash from 'the hole in the wall'. Banks couldn't give out cash as their computers would be inactive, no petrol for the same reason. Our fridges, freezers, central heating, cookers wouldn't work. Perhaps we wouldn't even be able to get water as this is probably pumped to us. Would we even be able to use our phone land lines? Perhaps we could use our mobile phones via satellite connections but we can't charge up the batteries when they go flat. We would need to have wind-up radios to get any information on what to do. And wind-up torches to let us see where we are going in the dark for there would be no lights other than candles (if we are lucky enough to have these).
Who could cope with a life like that? Certainly the old(er) folk would have a good idea how to. The rest would have to learn. Maybe time to start finding out now/
Doom and gloom may this sound, but fortunately I'm too old for it to concern me, unless Nature decides to go one step further these next few years. It's bad enough now, I'm shivering with cold, the house feels damp (it must be as the lawn outside squelches and leaves puddles when walked on, so goodness knows what is under our floor boards, we are now getting loads of slugs coming indoors for protection from the wet! ), and have to say that I'm feeling pretty fed up at the moment, but then never at my best when the weather is wet, damp, windy, and cold - as it has been most of this summer.
From our weather charts it does seem as though quite a bit of the UK is getting some good weather and hopefully sunshine, here in the north-west it is normal to be wetter than most of the country, and recently the rain seems to want to fall over Morecambe and surrounding countryside and not move on elsewhere. As ever, it is what happens to me that concerns me most. How selfish is that?
As you can guess, I'm not in a 'foodie' mood at the moment. Did manage to knock up a Beef Strogonoff for B's supper last night (took all of 10 minutes), and this he did enjoy. He ate more of the Chocolate Muffins (heated in the microwave) with cream, and have to say these have kept moist far longer than expected (muffins are usually best eaten day of making). We've managed to work our way through most of the chocolate popcorn.
Tonight B is doing bar duty at the social club where they are having a musical evening with 'pie and peas' so won't need to get him any supper. Not sure what I'll make for myself. Still have loads of odds and ends in the fridge, including veggies, so will probably not need to order from Riverford this week. It's been several weeks since my last veggie box was delivered, and as I haven't ordered groceries from Tesco am finding my food budget is looking remarkably healthy - even allowing for a D.R. delivery of meat a few weeks ago. How much simpler it is to cook using mainly 'fresh foods' rather than rely (maybe too much) on food stored in the larder.
What is in my larder at the moment I'm hoping to hang onto as long as possible to help see me thorough the long hard winter that I'm sure is heading my way. Normally I'm a very positive sort of person, but what with one thing and another, at the moment am feeling pessimistic about almost everything. I really must try and bring myself back into 'survival mode' and regain the enjoyment that 'coping' always used to give me.
Gill will be phoning tomorrow, so if I get up early enough will be able to write and publish before she rings, otherwise the blog will be later. I will try to be in a lot better mood tomorrow - and probably if I switch the radiator on in this room that would help (this room does not have central heating). Blow the expense.
I've a feeling I'm not going to write interesting or even nice things today due to my sorry state of mind, so think it's better if I wind up today's 'miseries', and go and eat something naughty to cheer myself up. Am sure by tomorrow I will be back on track and be able to concentrate more on the good things in life. Food comes to mind as we all know the best way to cheer ourselves up is to eat something nice. Trouble is today 'nice' can be 'expensive', so let's hope I can come up with some really cheap ways to lighten our sorrows. Hope you manage to have a good weekend, and can join me again tomorrow. See you then.
posted by Shirley at 9:30 am
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