Interesting Times

We are barely a third of the way through the first month of the year, and yet 2011 has already left an indelible mark on the consciousness of most of us. From freak weather to sporting triumphs to mindless acts of violence, this new year has certainly gotten busy very early on.

Although restricted to TV highlights and radio commentary, I have been greatly enjoying following the Ashes series in Australia. For those of you not in the know, I am talking about cricket – and the oldest rivalry in the game. Last week saw the culmination of the series, which resulted in England beating Australia to win the Ashes “Down Under” for the first time in 24 years. A wonderful achievement from a team who were hitting rock-bottom not so very long ago.

Of course, elsewhere in Australia, they have been battling against a natural disaster with the terrible floods they are encountering there. The world’s weather seems to have gone haywire recently, with the dreadful floods in Pakistan and Australia, the unusual amounts of snow in Europe that crippled the entire transport system (in the UK at least), and a similar story in the US where large snow storms have been battering the country for some weeks now – including the southern states. It seems to me that our weather patterns are changing, and in quite a dramatic fashion. If we carry on like this we will be having hot summers in England soon – and that would never do!! :-)

On another note, today is January 11th - or 11/1/11 ...or 1/11/11 depending on your own point of origin. I have been seeing a lot of repeating numbers lately. I glanced at the clock a couple of nights ago and it said 22:22, then the next day when I was watching the news the onscreen clock showed 3:33, and then later I noticed that I was following 1111 people on Twitter. It must all mean something. I am sure that a numerologist would be able to give some guidance. I am just taking it as a sign that the universe is aligning in some way and that, hopefully, good things are just around the corner.

“May you live in interesting times” is reputed to be an ancient Chinese curse. Well I don’t think many of us would argue the fact that we do indeed live in such times, but should we be seeing that as a curse, or a blessing? And, was there ever a period of time that wasn’t “interesting”? Whatever the truth is, I think that 2011 is already shaping up to be both interesting and memorable.

Yep, It Is Spring - Sort of.

My last post was entitled “Is It Spring Yet?” as winter seems to have lasted for about the last 5 years here! Anyway, imagine my surprise when watching the news today to find out that, apparently, yes it is spring already!

Now I know what you are thinking – “spring doesn’t start until March 20th” (if you are in the Northern hemisphere at least). I agree. The vernal equinox is the start of spring, or at least it has been for as long as I can remember. But now, The Meteorological Office here in the UK have declared that spring now starts on March 1st, and similarly summer starts on June 1st, autumn on September 1st and winter on December 1st. Oh, and because they have decided on this timetable, those are now the Official Dates for the various seasons. Not for me they ain’t! My diary still tells me that spring starts on the vernal equinox, and that’s still the day that I will be observing.

Anyhoo, in other weather news, the same Met Office say that this winter – that’s the one that ended on the last day of February obviously – has been the coldest in England for over 30 years, and for nearly 50 years in Scotland. I can well believe it, the cold weather seems to have gone on forever, and the snow has been a much more regular occurrence than usual. This was illustrated by this NASA satellite photo released in January of a snow and ice-covered Great Britain.



The Met Office have yet to release a seasonal forecast for this spring, even though it is already here! But then, given their track record for last summer – “a barbecue summer” it rained and rained – and this winter – “milder than average” coldest for 30+ years – it is maybe not so surprising.

I am just glad to see the sun come out for the last couple of days, even if it is going to go back in hiding again tomorrow!

The Fall Will Probably Kill You

We had a quiet weekend at the Yellow House this week. I have got this week off work, so we didn’t need to rush around so much at the weekend to get things done that we don’t normally have time for during the week. We pottered about the house for most all of the weekend, and worked on our plans for the next few months. Dori and I are working on a long term project together, so we spent quite a bit of time discussing that. I can’t give out any details about that at the moment but when “Project X” is ready for public consumption, you will be the first to know :-)

Saturday night is fast becoming DVD night in the Yellow House. After watching the bizarre ‘1408’ last week, we watched one of my all-time favourite films this weekend – ‘Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid’. Starring Robert Redford and the dearly missed Paul Newman, it is a wonderful movie filled with charm and humour. It is superbly written and many of the exchanges between the two main protagonists are a joy. Probably the most famous exchange is when the two men are cornered on a small rocky ledge overhanging a fast-flowing river. Sundance refuses to jump into the river to escape the chasing posse because he can’t swim, to which Butch replies, laughing, “Are you crazy? The fall will probably kill you!” I love that. We also watched a very interesting “Making Of...” documentary on the DVD, in which the director, talking before the film’s release, said how much he hoped the film wouldn’t be hated by the public. If only he knew! It just goes to show that we may all doubt our own abilities, but we just have to plough on and trust that what we do will be well received.

Today the weather has taken a severe turn for the worse, for which I must take full responsibility! It has long been a pattern that whenever I take any leave from work, so the weather heads downhill rapidly :-) It has rained almost constantly today, and the forecast for the rest of this week isn’t too encouraging. We used up today to do our must-do chores in town, and are hoping that we will still be able to get at least a couple of days out during the rest of the week. Fingers crossed.