And still it rained
Okay, actually, that’s a picture of the beach, but truly it has rained and rained. And winded and winded. Not like that big blow on Christmas Eve eve, but relentlessly. And for as far in the future as I trust the weather forecast.
We haven’t lost power yet, but we’ve had some close calls. The power to the pump that drains our local acres failed. They had to bring in a backup generator while we watched the ditches rise.
And this afternoon, the power went out in the supermarket. Which was creepy. It was pitch black, except for a lone spotlight in the deli section. The girl behind the counter made a “ta-da!” face in the light, which was kind of cute. It only lasted a few seconds, or I assume more backup would’ve kicked in.
Oh my god. It’s happened. I’ve gone native. I’m droning on and on about the weather…
December 30, 2013 — 11:46 pm
Comments: 24
We made it!
Well, that was the most spectacular windstorm either of us can remember — and we get some doozies here along the Channel. But we never lost power.
We did, however, lose two trees. One was dead, and we kind of expected it to come down in the blow. The other was a live plum tree, though, and it will be missed. But they didn’t damage anything in the falling, so we’re going to call this one a win.
Merry Christmas, y’all! Hope Sandy Claws dumps a load of awesome down your chimbley!
December 24, 2013 — 10:34 pm
Comments: 25
Christmas Eve Eve
Holy shit, it’s like the apocalypse out there. Yes, we’re on the southern coast, in the 85mph band. It’s rubbish night, but I don’t dare put anything out. I’m amazed we have power. It might not last.
By the way, our little corner of England always gets lumped in with London. As you can imagine, the doings of London always bigfoot all over our local news.
Yes, somebody had Kalashnikov. Sam Paris had him. So there will be a holiday Dead Pool on Friday, if y’all are over your festivities by then.
Expect posting to be light and lame for the holidays, until I sober up. I make that February or so.
December 23, 2013 — 8:25 pm
Comments: 21
Never forget
I ain’t even made this picture myself. I nicked it off Imgur.
Yeah, our giant megahellstorm was a bit of a fizzle. It was a pretty good blow — and heavier up toward London, where there were a few fatalities — but for these parts, it wasn’t even the worst storm of 2013.
Poor, poor journalists — they had a cool name picked out and everything. The St Jude’s Day storm! See, today was the feast day of St Jude, who is the patron of lost causes. Awesome, amirite?
The overreaction and consequent razzing are all down the to the Great Storm of 1987, which was the most powerful storm to land here in centuries (which had hurricane force winds but was not technically a hurricane, as those bastards are tropical). The size of the storm caught everyone by surprise and the Met Office has overreacted ever since (same thing happened in Rhode Island after the Blizzard of ’78).
There were casualties and disruption, but the main thing people remember is the trees. Brits like their trees, and millions and millions of them were lost in the storm. Including ancient and wonderful trees, like six of the seven oaks in Sevenoaks.
I hear people bring up that storm all the time. But mostly, I hear them bring up Michael Fish, who gave this forecast before the storm. He’s never lived it down. It’s one of Britain’s favorite memes.
I know, I know. A completely unremarkable moment, even in light of the storm, but you have to understand: the English.
October 28, 2013 — 9:21 pm
Comments: 24
Duck!
Last one. No, really, this was probably the last really hot day of Summer. Heavy rain tomorrow, then nice enough for the rest of the week, but ten or twenty degrees cooler and windy. That’s it. The end.
The Daily Mail says it was the hottest September day for seven years, but you know. Pff! The Mail. Still, it was pretty toasty.
So we packed a lunch for Bodiam Castle — that’s the really cool ruin with the big moat and the ducks and the steam trains. It’s a pretty easy trek for us (and takes us past our favorite Chinese takeaway), which makes this one of our best options on a hot day. Also, the kiddlets went back to school yesterday, so it was just us dessicated old people. Ahhhhh. Such a quiet, polite bunch.
I love the way the ducks and the fish totally ignore each other.
Oh, also — points to the Brits: I love it that we aren’t forbidden to feed either (throwing food into ponds was aggressively illegal in New England). Does the heart good to see people and nature enjoying each other so much — and so what if sandwich ends are not the optimum diet for any of us?
As for politics — help me out here, folks. I’ve wanted to talk about the Syria thing all week, but I just can’t work out the angles. Obama and Kerry both — especially Kerry — made their names in politics as totally anti war. So what is it about this one stupid bad-guys-versus-bad-guys civil war that’s got those two all revved up to put their whole careers on the line, just to lob a few pointless missiles in a vaguely menacing direction? I can’t make this make sense.
September 5, 2013 — 10:30 pm
Comments: 31
We’re having a heat wave
I suppose you’ve all read about Britain’s killer heat wave, the one with a body count of over 700? Look up. That’s it. That’s the real thing. That’s our actual weather forecast for the week.
Last week, it was in the mid-70s and sunny every day, clear and in the mid-50s at night. Or, as we used to call that in Tennessee, “April.”
To be fair, it’s been hotter in other parts of the country that are even less used to it than we are (it is *always* snowing somewhere in Scotland), but I don’t think it’s broken 90 anywhere. Most of the fatalities are swimming related.
So, as we slide into the weekend, what’s the hottest you’ve endured? We used to visit my grandmother every August. She lived in the bayou, on the banks of the Amite River in Baton Rouge. Stepping out of the air conditioning was like being sucked violently into Satan’s armpit.
p.s. What, you thought I was going to go with Barack Obama in a hoodie? Noo thenk yew. I’ve already disrespected an iconic African saint this week.
July 19, 2013 — 10:44 pm
Comments: 48
Happy Solstice!
‘Tis the Solstice! And you know what that means — Cosplay for Seniors at Stonehenge. Please enjoy the Daily Mail‘s photo essay on same. Now don’t you feel more dignified?
Also in the Mail, Are Chickens Smarter than Toddlers? I take their point that chickens are not stupid, I surely do, but I think describing them as having an innate grasp of structural engineering is a bit rich (this because chickens prefer diagrams of workable machines over ones that violate the laws of physics, would you believe). I’ll leave you to decide if you’d cross a bridge design as approved by Mapp.
First day of Summer was damp and cold here, but next week it’s going to be…damper and colder. Stupid global warming.
Enjoy the weekend, folks!
June 21, 2013 — 8:54 pm
Comments: 25
Oh, second Winter, you utter bastard
Oh, I am so tired of this. Ohhhhhh, I am so tired of this. The long range forecast? Wetter and colder.
I have generally liked the weather in Britain. Our little corner of the island is drier and sunnier than the rest. But this year, Summer ended early for us and it’s been this — that there up there in the picture — for months and months.
The chickens are filthy and miserable, the garden is a muckhole, the chicken lady isn’t hatching any interesting chicks until it warms up and I’m wearing wellies everywhere.
Enough. Stahp. Go away.
It’s the weekend, I haven’t anything in particular to say for myself, so…how’s the weather?
March 22, 2013 — 11:38 pm
Comments: 49
Free the East Sussex Four
The chickens have not left the henhouse for a week, except the occasional short foray into the run for a peck. I wouldn’t put it past them to starve themselves into anemia.
It’s not the snow. It started two days before the snow, when we had a heavy, white frost. The chickens took one look and announced, “the grass is white. Grass is not supposed to be white. Ergo, we will not leave this small wooden enclosure until the grass ceases to be white.” And they meant it.
Changing the subject, Uncle B was up uncharacteristically early this morning. When I slouched out of bed several hours later, I asked him what was up. Said he was woken up by a Very Bad Smell. Which he decided was me, since I’d eaten a bowl of exceptionally garlicky soup for lunch.
Just now, I told him I was going to tell this story, he was all, like, “be fair — I did say I thought it might be the cat’s box.”
That’s supposed to be mitigation, you understand: he couldn’t decide which smelled worse, his sleeping wife or a dirty litterbox.
Huh. Anyway. Not guilty.
January 22, 2013 — 10:20 pm
Comments: 29
Rainy tonight, with a chance of gray balls
Well, that’s a new one. I’m not sure what gray balls in our weather forecast stand for. It’s cold tonight, so I’m guessing sleet or hail. Dirty sleet or hail.
Snow is a little white snowflake, rain is a little blue raindrop. We had a forecast the other day that had an icon for cloudy-sunny-rainy-snow, which is about as much weather as one icon can hold.
December 6, 2012 — 8:24 pm
Comments: 21