Not long after eight this morning I left Sainsburys and wandered through the town, today being Market Day I wanted to see what pap was on offer. As you can see nothing was on offer! The Wednesday fruit stall was out on a Saturday but the two Saturday fruit stalls were not. A fish van could be seen in the usual spot but nothing else.
I wandered around the corner to find the town quiet, even at that time Saturday is busy, and no stalls to be found. Not even the van with the Key cutting man was there. All had taken the day off because of the threatened weather.
A couple of years ago, you may remember, bad weather attacked the nation, the press and many others were upset that they had not been warned. In fact there was little to be done, weather forecasts had spoken of problems and these had been greater than imagined. Today, with a months rain falling occasionally in a day, 'Yellow Warnings' are being posted for the slightest hint of poor weather. We are under one now. Winds of 40 miles an hour accompanied by rain showers were to blow us away, knock down trees, houses and scaffolding and kill us all. It has not happened. Certainly high winds have passed through here, 20 - 25 mph I would guess, and reports elsewhere of occasional gusts of much higher winds have been heard, the disaster foretold however has as yet not revealed itself.
I think we have moved away from caution into a world of neurosis. Storms are now given silly names like Nigel or Suzanne rather than just 'Storms.' 'Yellow Warnings' are less to warn than to avoid blame when storms arrive. This could in time lead to complacency as the warnings constantly are overblown, the same people of course will be first to complain!
As we speak the wind is around 15 mph, no rain is falling here and dog walkers watch their charges ruffle the piles of leaves all around the park. Almost a normal Saturday in November, but with very little of a market to attend. Tesco and Sainsburys will be happy however.
Most unfortunate.
For much of this week the papers have been filled with fawning items regarding England's win in the Rugby World Cup. Day after day it has taken up much space in the online press but I suspect this will dwindle somewhat as the day passes by. I note some have covered the loss well, making it a loss, not a defeat you note, that is the tactic well known to those who read reports of Rangers and Celtic games, and apart from not liking the referee, why? there appears little reason for the English hordes to whimper. Mind you, I have just noticed the sporting fashion in which the losers refused to wear their Losers medals! Refusing to wear them like decent folks would do? How petty! What does that say about this game, this team and xenophobic Englishmen everywhere?
Anyway, it's only rugby, a game the 'Hooray Henry's' play, not real people...
6 comments:
England were soundly beaten by SA as were Wales. The Japanese had the right tactics when they beat them 4 years ago, just run it. But the win will do a lot for SA. Your last line may well have been correct 70 years ago, but not today.
Dave, You are right I suppose about the last line, certainly in Wales.
Higher Authority predicted an S.A. win...so did I. Since the internetwent down on Thursdsy evening - cattle lorry bringing down the wires - had to eait until the crew turned out today to get the result.
Fly, You must be more careful with those cattle trucks. How many cows did you take in...?
It was pretty nasty in London for about 2 hours but then I went out about 11 AM and had a walk for about an hour.
Jenny, Aye like that here. Just like Edinburgh normally...
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