Just made pickled beetroot and am drying herbs. Maybe get strawberries tomorrow for jam, I would like to make raspberry jam but despite my raspberries spreading across the former lawn, I never have enough for jam (it might be my fault for snacking on the way to the greenhouse every morning! Tomatoes not ready quite yet, and chilli plant is thriving but no flowers yet. About to make a foolish for baguettes and maybe add basil and parmesan before baking tomorrow morning?
BASIC MISTAKE
I put the washing on and then looked at the weather forecast! I am a dumbass at times.
On an optimistic note Andy Burnham has published ideas for his future government – and there was not anything to dislike apart from those who hate paying tax and think the world is orientated around them! It was vague in parts but at least built up the hope that things will get better. He did it in Manchester – can he take on the vast vested interests of Westminster, Whitehall and the City of London.
SOFT POWER
Trump has gutted the USAID organisation which has resulted in a lack of contact with local NGO’s around the world; so what! It has saved $millions – but there is a catch. The earthquake disaster in Venezuela has left the US Government clueless a govt. spokesperson said aid was going to be big, fast and effective. Well the fast bit is already a lie, it will probably be big in terms of cost (Trump needs to keep his newest friends sweet), but effective needs good contacts with local NGO’s – so that is a no. Iran has revealed that Trumps belief that power is correlated with military might is totally false. Influence is a much more difficult factor to control, and Trump has destroyed much of the goodwill that tempered the brash behaviour of governments in the past. Copious funding may seem to be wasteful, but the alternative posited by Trump is “do as I say or I will bomb you back to the Stone Age”. He and his supporters are all thick as and talk shit!
ITS ALL ABOUT THE FOOTBALL!
There are many things wrong with commercialisation of this World Cup – but a positive has been the lack of crowd trouble, I guess charging people a few grand keeps the knuckle draggers at home, I have not heard of any trouble, and maybe at last a positive regarding Brexit. Now we are out of Europe can the EU ask for visa applications – all with a violent past could be banned, or would they use the small boats abandoned by migrants. If the groups were lined up there is no argument of whom wins. And the football has been – good at times and often tedious – especially the universally hated hydration breaks. Scottish fans again were wonderful, Curacao did themselves proud and Cabo Verde through to the last 32 is the stuff of fiction and dreams. That is why football is so lovely, accessible to all, supporters will not be priced out – just move to clubs like United of Manchester, every season starts with fresh hope and desires, when they crumble, inevitably, there is still the occasional flash of light in the tunnel. Whilst many youngsters are swayed by kit or publicity to support one of the top teams, most remain loyal to either their roots or their first loves. I have done so, I wss brought up to a hammer or spur, but at the age of 11 chose Sunderland, never been their or even close- at the age of 14 I was taken to WHU to see them score 8 against a hapless Sunderland. But once selected it is ingrained in the DNA. My son is the same with Everton. Most of the time we can rely on players to perform at their best (if we could only say the same for duplipitous, corrupt MP’s swayed by false importance and arrogantly thinking they are better than the rest of us – a footballer soon gets brought down to earth by the wags in the crowd. Yes they are millionaires but they are playingba game they love and most donate copiously to charity notably Marcus Rashford and Raheem Sterling.
IMMIGRATION
Labour have announced plans, or at least have said they will, to open up safe routes to the UK for approved asylum seekers; I guess that means that all those crossing in small boats can be returned to France or wherever. My only question is why has it taken so long to do what has been bloody obvious? On saving money the welfare bill is too high – it is ridiculous that people do not take jobs as they are better off on benefits. As ever there are the rightful claimants and those who are not – but what to do about the latter? Counselling and respect should be shown and employers offered incentives. I suspect the future welfare cost will spiral – presumably those on benefits are not paying into a back up pension?
GAIA IS NOT AMUSED
The Greek goddess who personifies Mother Earth is pouring scorn on Trump; firstly the pond in Washington which he blamed on saboteurs (if the Crown Jewels were nicked I guess he would blame the school parties!) and now the awful earthquake in Venezuela.
And Europe ignore the warning signs of Gaia at your/our peril. The present heat wave is waning in the UK, but it will not be the last this year. Britain’s and indeed Europes infrastructure was built for a different climate. So the first act of Andy Burnham as PM should be to create a Department of climate emergency and borrow the billions to fund the necessary improvements to infrastructure and buildings, including private ones. Bonds could be issued to pay for it – we always find money for weapons, why not to fund public safety and resilience? Strict rules will need to be in place to prevent the cronyism of the covid debacle. He could even do something about that by at least banning certain individuals from Parliament. “A stitch in time saves nine” is a maxim that the public will understand. Newly nationalised water companies could be given leading roles. Whilst on the issue – all council nd government contracts need to be verified to prevent over-charging – I know of people wanting to invest in care homes due to the massive profit margins, and perhaps a cap on government council salaries; the same gos for education – how can a headteacher justify a salary in excess of £150000 – sma hours, same responsibilities as others earning half that. And I am not against capitalism per se, just the jungle that has been created. I have not ranted against Farage & Co yet – I wish they would just fuck off some tropical island and then Gaia could create a tsunami!
World Cup is troubling – the nights are sweaty enough, and sleep disturbed, without having to wake up and work out who played in the hours of European darkness. Hydration breaks in an air conditioned stadium for the benefit of advertisers and TV channels – it disrupts the flow of games and is not necessary if the games are played at sensible times – America – keep your hands off our football (ours forever! the publics game).
DON’T BE FOOLED
Even stupid fools agree that the climate is changing, well some of them. The science is that temperatures have risen 2-4C in the last 50 years, every 1C increases the capacity of the air to hold moisture by 7%, this hot weather dome originated over the Atalantic and thus the humidity and uncomfortableness is higher. Oh, and it is only June – higher temperatures can be expected in July and August, and next year with an `El Niño we can expect 40+C. I have got my fans – have you? So is the government preparing a plan to meet a predictable crisis next summer? Kent Water suppliers have already imposed a hosepipe ban – and summer only officially started 4 days ago! The Telegraph had a front page story about air cons being ripped out? I did not read it as online it has a firewall, and I would not be seen dead reading the disgusting rag! However there may be an argument here – air con should be installed in association with solar or offset. Data centres are making it all worse and need legislating centrally. AND CAN WE HAVE OUR SWIMMING POOLS BACK! This area has seen the disappearance of Cheddar Pool (which was fantastic), the Tropicana in W-s-M, Churchill School pool. Now the alternatives are Hutton Moor or private clubs. Fucking Tory austerity! and the situation with Libraries is worse, youth clubs – what youth clubs?
Will Trump and Vance lose patience with Israel or is their support bound by greater ties? Same could be said about Starmer and Burnham, over a hundred Lablour M.p.s have supported Israel. Conspiracy theory?
JUST SHUT UP
I am tired of stupid old people – and in particular hearing that in the summer 1976 everybody just got on with life and ignored the heat. An estimated 150 people died per day due to the heat. Swimming pools had not been closed due to Tory austerity, and the plethora of shiny glass covered schools and other buildings built to resemble greenhouses had yet to spread like a fungus across the country.. Toilets could not be flushed due to a water shortage, unless one took a bucket to the standpipe at the street corner and carry the ever increasing weight! back home and up the stairs to the bathroom. Yes you old fogey’s – you were 50 years younger, less stupid? fitter? less dogmatic? Presumably you did not have selective vision and view everything via those tinted glasses. Presumably you also forget the cholera scares and seeing people suffering from the impact of other diseases. Racism, homophobia and misogyny were the norm. Oh what a jolly time we had! Just see me coming and STFU! And yes the trains did stop running. At least cities like London with ULEZ are more bearable despite the heat (a recent study showed air pollution deaths down 40% since its introduction- yet another way Reform want to kill us by abandoning these schemes. In the 50 years temperatures across the south of England have risen 3C – for the dumbass 35C is 95F, body temp is 37C, so a little hotter and we cook- it is well known that white anglo-saxons love to cook on beaches – they even baste themselves in oil – makes a nice crusty skin! and enhances the chance of skin cancer. But never fear folks – you will no longer need to pay £1000’s for the pleasure of going to the Mediterranean – the heat will come to you!
If Labour could stop their internal squabbling for a moment and actually make some plans for for next years weather – possibly very cold in Jan/Feb and then a scorching summer. I realise it takes time to build a reservoir – but all buildings with x roof space should be compelled to have water storage tanks – at the very least they could spray car parks in drought conditions.
And of course we all get introverted in a crisis – me me me! But I llike to think my front lawn (and back – I am not doing it for show!) may provide a haven for wildlife in times of drought and heat; it also absorbs rainfall and replenishes the water table beneath, rather than cause run off to overwhelm seawge works which then pollute our water supply. It is not brain science, I am not that clever – just ordinary fucking common sense. TWO WILDFIRES hit GREENLAND in a week – Greenland is supposed to be covered with ice which in places is over 1km thick. Is America and Trump behind the fires? Nothing would surprise me less!
So most people in Iran beleive they have won the war with USA/Israel despite cost of living horrors, how many Americans think Trump won? Oh well they are more concerned about a pond in Washington! Israel found guilty of murdering Palestinian children – we know what Starmer thinks – will Burnham be different.
STORMY
A thrilling storm yesterday evening, originally I thought it was all mouth and flashing, but then the rain started and boy oh boy, what rain – it seemed to be attempting to batter the windows down for a while. It was so dark that the solar panels stopped working. But it was not finished – a hot and humid night ensued and then it started to get light before 4am. So I had watered the greenhous, from my now full water butts and had breakfast and coffee before the rest of the street was awake! Train services are curtailed and people advised not to travel, some schools and businesses are changing their operating hours. Perhaps people will have to adapt to climate change (which of course is a left wing fantasy!). Supermarkets and offices with car parks should be compelled to invest in solar panel covers that would save them money on hot days (a local supermarket said its chilled units stopped working when it got too warm! My garden offers wildlife a haven from the heat of the barren lawns that are still 95% of the frant gardens in my road (although none would come close in biomass and diversity. At 10.03 40-7% of our electric was coming from renewables at a price cheaper than gas, explain that arseholes!
World Cup – not only did the USA prevent the Iranian team from residing near their matches, but also refused to let them have a match ball to practice with – how fucking petty. the footballing minnows of Cabo Verde and Curacao have done the football world proud, whilst those who splash the cash to get in with the big boys, i.e. Saudi Arabia and Qatar are bottom of their repective groups and could both be heading home.
Much hoo-hah in the press about the next PM – who will be Andy Burnham, and who will find that the City and Israel exert their muscle to ensure that he cannot make a damned difference! The main stream press are already sowing the seeds of discontent by talking about tax rises, Net Zero has gone quiet for a couple of days! and a left wing take over. Andy burnham might have more charisma than Starmer, but left wing he is not – unless compared to Hitler, Farage, Tice and Lowe!
DROUGHT
This heat wave is not accompanied by a drought like in 1976. However it is likely to be fiercer; so the water companies have no grounds for complaint. Schools should close to protect the students and staff – it should be easy to switch from uneducational visits to nothing! Parents could off set the cost of childcare where necessary – but where is our community spirit? Churches and other buildings that are traditionally cool could be opened up.
And then my garden – I have planted several rose bushes and a few herb so my former lawn is in average 1m high – all has a cooling influence despite the plethora of neatly clipped lawns that dominate 95% of the street. No one ever plays on the neat lawns, a few may be used for parking, but wasted energy – in mowing and then without the impact of cooling. And the joy of butterflies and bees.