Tag Archives: climate

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So how was it for you?

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“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.” J R R Tolkien, The Hobbit

Boxing Day is sinking away beneath a full moon, as we flop into still spaces, and try to understand how to bring ourselves back towards some sort of everyday where there is no chocolate.

And while we flop, the world turns as it always has done, taking us and our muddle with it.

Here in the south of England the weather has been warmer than normal, warmer in a way that is hard not to notice. But perhaps that is a good thing. Perhaps, the combination of national holiday and unseasonal warmth will help to underline the shift that is happening to the climate. Perhaps it will mark the end of the year that helped to focus our wandering attention on the fractured weather surrounding us. Perhaps.

And if it does, then we’ve still got time to line up a whole new set of resolutions for next week.

Copyright Georgie Knaggs & The Phraser 2023

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They told us so …

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… but did we listen?

No.

I’ve found it impossible not to notice the weather this year. Here in the south of England it’s warm – humid and still, with a wind that shakes through now and then, without bringing much rain. So far.

‘Typical Wimbledon weather’ they say cheerily on the news, but it doesn’t feel like it, and I’m sure it’s not. This is not the usual English summer of occasional sunshine peeping through sheets of drizzle. Rather this feels like Meditteranean meets the tropics. And it’s been heading that way for a few years – drier and drier.

Meanwhile all around there is news of far, far worse. Horrific storms. Landslides. Unbearable heat. Wildfires. Forbes reported on July 5th, that July 4th was “… the hottest day on Earth in as many as 125,000 years …” and the days to either side of it equally record breaking. So what do we do?

Cutting back on almost everything seems the way forward for ‘developed’ nations, and demanding support from those nations the only option for those hit by the consequences of over-indulgence and lack of due regard for consequences.

Oh … and may we pray that El Niño will be kind to us.

Dolly Parton puts it well. Hope you have time to watch this video.

Copyright Georgie Knaggs & The Phraser 2023

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So how’s the weather with you?

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It’s cold, in England.

The photograph above was taken on an early morning, in the middle of this week, just south of London. Leaves were trapped in frosted white, and the sunlight danced. It was beautiful. Proper winter cold. And dry, which was a relief after the days of rain we’ve had.

Then I came back to the centre of London. Today, Thursday, it is still cold, but I haven’t seen the delicate ice lines that fill the gardens and hedgerows.

Here, in the built world, the pavements hold a cold of their own, and the wind more slice, as it whips between and around the buildings in the City. There are fewer greens and browns, and less sky. There is more scaffolding, concrete, hard greys, and steep sides. It is only in the evening that it softens. Then the hard lines fade around bright office windows, and bars and restaurants beckon like burrows.

I suppose a cold city has its own kind of beauty, but it is the cold I am happiest about – happy that London and the south of England, can still do cold after the dry summer of 2022, with temperatures that hit over 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit).

Here is a link to an article I found when typing 40 degrees Celsius into Google.

Copyright Georgie Knaggs & The Phraser 2023