Summer

Sunday Musings In May

~ beetleypete ~ 43 Comments

The weather finally decided it was Spring earlier this week, and I was wearing shorts walking around in a balmy 21C with lovely blue skies. It actually felt like Summer on my walks, with real heat in the sun. Then on Friday I was reminded that I live in England, when there was an 11C drop in temperature overnight, and torrential rain that included a short hailstorm. I soon hurried back from my walk that day, I can tell you.

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Otherwise a quiet week, with the national news dominated by a local and regional elections disaster for the Conservative Party. Although I am personally convinced that the forthcoming general election will change little other than the name of the party in power, it will be good to see the back of the corrupt robbing bandits who pretend to be the current government, as they grab as much dirty money and lucrative contracts as they can before they are kicked out of office.

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On my walks, I am still encountering people who do not know that Ollie died in February. That made me realise just how many dog-walkers I have met during the last 12 years. It is to be expected, but I really wish they would stop asking me “When are you getting another dog?”

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The busy birds and light mornings mean I am waking up much earlier. Not a complaint, but I was awake before 6am a couple of times this week, and this morning I have been up and about since 7am. It made remember the times of my childhood when I would wake up early, read my comics, then go back to sleep until midday. I often read that old people need less sleep, and have no idea if that is really true. Perhaps we just don’t want to miss out on any of the short time left to us, so force ourselves to wake up?

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I hope you had a good night’s rest before you are reading this, and that your Sunday is everything you hoped it would be.

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The Joys Of An English Summer

~ beetleypete ~ 60 Comments

It is 5pm on the 29th of August.

The temperature is currently (supposed to be anyway) 16C. (61F)

The skies are grey and cloudy and we have lights on in the house, three hours before sunset.

It feels so cold sitting inside that I have had to put on a fleece top over my shirt, and zip it up to my neck. I am wearing sheepskin-lined slippers to try to keep my feet warm, and I have just been placing my hands under a running hot tap to warm them up.

In the garden, it feels more like 9C (48F) and there is a light drizzle of rain in the air.

Misquoting the poet Robert Browning seems appropriate.

“Oh to be in England, now that summer’s there.”

Dark At 8:15 PM

~ beetleypete ~ 40 Comments

Last night, it was completely dark here by 8:15pm. The non-summer is on its way out, and the evenings are already getting noticeably longer. I had to put lights on in the kitchen when I was cooking dinner at 6:30pm.

We have been spared the terrible heatwaves that have affected so much of the world this year, along with the accompanying disastrous wildfires.

I’m grateful for that, don’t get me wrong.

But it would have been nice to have had a summer. It really would have.

Sunday Musings In Early August

~ beetleypete ~ 56 Comments

Another week dominated by unseasonal weather, sadly. It has been below 20c all week, except for Friday afternoon. And it has rained every day, either overnight or in the late afternoon. Not remotely like the summers when we first moved here in 2012. On the bright side, it has all been caused by the Jet Stream being stuck across the south and west of the UK. That is set to move by the end of the month, and allow warmer weather to slide up from southern Europe and North Africa. As we are taking our annual week’s holiday in Lincolnshire during the first week of September, we may well get a break from this dreary weather to enjoy it.

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I was supposed to have my annual Glaucoma check at the Norwich Hospital Eye Clinic last Wednesday afternoon. But as I was woken during the night with an upset stomach, I phoned in and cancelled it on Wedneday morning. They have called me back, and said they may offer me another appointment in October. My eyesight hasn’t changed that much sine March 2022, so it’s nothing urgent.

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Ollie has continued to moult his fur, which in turn has made him itchy. Despite a daily anti-allergy tablet, he has been scratching himself badly, often until he bleeds from the affected areas. So I am now applying a soothing foam balm to the red areas, and hoping that it will not require trips to the Vet.

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For the coming week, I have nothing arranged, and no plans whatsoever. That is just how I like it, to take each day as it comes.

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I send you all my best wishes for a peaceful and happy Sunday, wherever you are.

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Last Sunday Musings For This July

~ beetleypete ~ 59 Comments

It was a busier week than normal for us, as we had our grandson staying from Sun-Weds. The sheer energy of an 8 year-old is so tiring, even just watching him. 🙂

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The weather didn’t improve, so it looks like it will be a non-summer this year. Saturday was pleasant, and it finally felt quite warm. But it is not set to last.

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Ollie is still moulting badly, and his fur is everywhere. At least he has been happy this week, enjoying his walks and relishing his food. At his age, that’s good news.

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We enjoyed two meals out last week. One with our grandson at a ‘family pub’ in Dereham, and then a nice meal in a Chinese Restaurant in Attleborough after we took him home. Julie’s oldest son joined us for dinner there, and we had a good catch-up.

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I hope you all had a nice week, and have an enjoyable Sunday too, wherever you are.

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Sunday Musings In Mid-July

~ beetleypete ~ 66 Comments

I think we are going to have to write-off July, and lose a month from our short English summer. The weather has been ‘unpredicatable’, to say the least. Hunidity at night, some torrential rain storms, and as I type this, 55 mph winds are rattling everything in Beetley. At least they are warm winds, so I am staying positive.

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Ollie has enjoyed the rain, as it brings cooler weather. On Friday, he was actually ‘trotting’ around, ignoring the downpours and enjoying the cool temperatures and cold rain. It was a delight to see my geriatric dog acting like his old self, and striding out ahead of me at least 100 yards in front. I get so much joy from watching him acting like he did five years ago, I cannot even find the words to express that feeling. On Saturday, we had gale-force winds on our dog-walk. But they were strange, warm winds, like walking into a hair-dryer. Ollie felt that heat, and soon retired to the river to cool down.

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I have already posted about how we had to change our plans for some trips this past week. Fortunately, Julie has more days off from work coming up, so we might get to do the things that were cancelled. If not, that’s life in an English summer. At least we are going out to eat in a restaurant in town later tonight, something we both enjoy.

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Whatever you are doing this Sunday, and wherever you are doing it, I hope it makes you happy.

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Sunday Musings On A Hot Day In June

~ beetleypete ~ 45 Comments

Very late today as we have had our grandchildren for the day, and took them to a farm open day. Later, we will all go to a local restaurant before taking them home.

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Summer finally arrived late on Thursday. By Friday we had blue skies and a warm day, and On Saturday we began our ‘mini-heatwave’ with temperatures hitting 27C in Beetley. Flip-flops have made an appearance on my feet for the first time in 2023, and today is forecast to be even warmer, perhaps touching 30C.

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For Ollie, the sudden jump in temperature has left him hot and panting. On Saturday, I took him out early, and restricted his walk to just over one hour. He spent at least ten minutes of that standing in the river to cool down, and then I took him into the shade of the woodland to stop him getting overheated.

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Most readers will already know that my good friend Antony came up from London for a vist on Thursday evening and all day Friday. We got out and about with Ollie in the car, and had a really good time.

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If you are enjoying hot weather this Sunday, stay safe and have a great day.

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London In The 1930s: Heatwaves

~ beetleypete ~ 26 Comments

1930 was one of the hottest summers on record, and 1932 was almost as hot. Londoners enjoyed the warm weather in a variety of ways.

These girls are at a main line station, going off on holiday.

Old Caledonian Market, King’s Cross. Some of the shoppers are still wearing far too much clothing for a heatwave.

The water company man has opened a street water main so the children can cool off.

Crowds gather by The Serpentine in Hyde Park. A cool spot in the heart of Central London.

A temporary swimming pool erected in Piccadilly.

These dressmakers are working on the roof of the workshop, wearing less clothing to keep cool.

The ice cream man by the River Thames was more popular than ever.

This little girl is taking her cat to The Cat Show at Olympia. She is still wearing an overcoat, despite the heat.

The little boy in his toy bus will not let the warm weather stop him wearing full uniform.

Female tennis players at Wimbledon cool off during the Junior Championships.

London, 1914: The Great War Is Looming

~ beetleypete ~ 43 Comments

In the summer of 1914, life continued as normal in England, with few people aware that the world was about to be plunged into the carnage of WW1 on the 4th of August.

A policeman stands guard outside the National Gallery in London. It had been closed after a suffragette damaged a famous work of art, during the campaign for Votes For Women.

A modern operating theatre at King’s College Hospital, London.

Female Tennis fans at Wimbledon.

A parade by the Holborn Regiment in Red Lion Square, London.

Boys fishing in St James’s Park, Central London.

Men seeking a vantage point to watch the Football Association Cup Final at Crystal Palace.

The morning rush hour outside Liverpool Street Staion in London.

The arrest of a Suffragette who was protesting outside Buckingham Palace.

The opening of a branch of Marks and Spencer in Holloway, North London.

Crowds attend the Henley Regatta, held on the River Thames outside London in Oxfordshire.

A steam-powered wagon has crashed in Chelsea, London.

Not long after these photos were taken, many of the men pictured would die or be terribly injured on battlefields across Europe, and in Turkey.
For everyone in these photographs, life would never be the same again.