Well folks, unless you’ve been living in a cave, you might have noticed that it’s been a bit hot recently. I appreciate not all of you are based in Blighty, but it seems that most of Europe at least is under similar conditions at the minute… with unprecedented levels of dry, hot weather there’s certainly things creaking at the seams and most of the England at least is now officially in drought!
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Down in Devon (I’m in Plymouth) we’ve had no rain really for the last couple of months. Being in the South West, we get more rainfall here than on average with the weather blowing in and hitting the land, hence the east of England tends to be a lot dryer. Winters especially can feel like weeks on end of soggy weather, and even the summers can at times be a bit damp.
But not this year. It is arid. I certainly can’t remember a prolonged dry spell like this… I’ve stopped checking the weather forecast - a bit like one might do in Spain (it reminds me of the Fast Show’s sketch ‘Scorchio’)… the doors have been open constantly, I can’t remember the last time I wore shoes… and the garden is bone dry. The grass is now hay and things are getting dusty!
On a personal level, it’s rather lovely. But I definitely feel for my old colleagues on the farm… well, for all sorts of businesses really. We’re just not geared up for weather like this as a country, but I’ve no doubt there’s far more of it to come given the state of the world. The UK hasn’t built any new water reservoirs since 1992… pretty well since they’ve been privatised… and obviously they’re not quick, or cheap things to create!
I also feel for those without an old house (big or small)! Just as friends of ours in new builds pity our (very self inflicted!) plight in Admirals every winter when we’re a bit nithered to say the least, the old girl is, generally speaking, coping with the consistently balmy temperatures beautifully - and it’s a good job really! There’s certainly no money in the budget for air conditioning haha - and can you imagine that conversation with the planners?!
Obviously there’s a myriad of reasons the old girl copes well in the heat - it’s still warm of course - my heating app that controls the room temperatures is currently telling me the hottest room is 24 degrees and the coolest 21 (centigrade) in the ‘main’ house… the lower ground is likely 3 degrees cooler still and this is at 5pm after a blazing hot day of maybe highs of 30 degrees outside.
I’d say it feels a little cooler than that though… I’ve windows open, front and rear, which creates some wonderful through draughts so there’s air circulating, and I’m sure the tall ceilings help a bit with that too. We do take some measures though - our bedroom for example - we keep the shutters and thick, insulated curtains closed throughout the day - it being a south facing room that gets full sun all day… and open the windows after the sun goes down.
It helps certainly, and we have a small fan that we sleep with on in there (the only space a fan really feels necessary), though on the hottest days I’ve been known to bring it downstairs too!
There’s definitely a few issues though… the front elevation of Admirals faces south… the very, very dark blue front door I painted, being so dark, absorbs a lot of heat… it’s causing it to get very hot and move - so much so, the caulk in the joints has been overwhelmed, and there’s cracks appearing. It’s not the end of the world - it needed redoing anyway - something I’ve previously discussed, and whilst I LOVE the deep blue, I’ll likely go lighter to mitigate these issues in the future - similarly the shutters in our main bedroom, a not quite so deep blue - are suffering a similar fate - but again, are woodwork that needs attention anyway and will be stripped fully one day - at which point they’ll go a paler colour which should help significantly!
Other than that, the old girl seems to be weathering the rest very nicely indeed - certainly she’s coping more elegantly than I am! At 222 years old ish, I’m sure she’s seen her fair share of interesting weather, especially being as she is, on the south coast… though imagine storms have in the past been more of an issue than the warmth!
It does make me wonder what the future holds for us here in the UK. Our little island isn’t really geared up to deal with extremes in weather of any kind. As a Northerner, from a place where at least a couple of times a year, there’d be a pretty decent covering of snow, I couldn’t help but giggle at how woeful the response was down in Devon when the ‘Beast from the East’ came and they had 50cm of snow in parts of the county - but it’s a once every couple of decades occurrence and the county understandably hasn’t invested in enough gritters and similar to keep the place moving (for context I haven’t seen any snow settle in my 8 or so years here in Devon so spanking a load of cash on gritters that get used once every 20 years would be folly indeed!).
And it’s similar when we get extreme heat too. It’s been fascinating watching the response of Europe to the wildfires and similar. We’ve sadly had some here too… but we don’t have anything like the responsiveness to it they have in Europe and elsewhere, where they’re a far more common occurrence and similarly, our homes just aren’t equipped for it either… being focussed primarily on keeping the water and cold out!
Our part of Devon has finally been hit with a hosepipe ban too. This is despite a hideously wet winter… with rainfall in the region between 130% and 170% of average… again because we’re not planning for extreme’s there’s not the capacity to store that water should we go into drought (and I’ll not use this to delve into the efficiency and competence of the UK’s water companies…!).
Our lifestyle isn’t really suited to it either… unlike a lot of Europe that might Siesta during the hottest parts of the day - and use the evening when it’s cooler to get things done… or in Frances case, just take the whole of August off, we’re pretty ridged with our working days and how we operate.
But, it’s certainly got Cot and I thinking as we consider the garden and our plans for it… and we’ll no doubt be incorporating parts of the garden that suit drought resistant plants… as well as a far more efficient watering system with irrigation feeding the soil/roots directly rather than the hosepipe (and now watering can - post ban) we’ve been doing, as well as ensuring we’re effectively harvesting and using as much of the plentiful rainwater we get as possible over the cooler months and I’ve been looking at whether I could construct something beautiful for water storage that’s a bit more elegant than the usual plastic tubs.
I must confess too that my desire to work has dropped a little… the second I get on the tools I’m dripping in sweat… but even sitting behind a computer when it’s so beautiful outside seems like folly - but needs must! Though the heat has certainly made some jobs far harder than usual - getting a good paint finish when the paint is drying as fast as you’re applying it is interesting, that’s for sure so I’ve all but given up until things cool a little!
But, how very British of me, to have written a whole post about the weather! How are you all fayring dear readers? Are you loving the warmth? Are your gardens turning into dust bowls before your eyes? Are you craving autumn (I certainly aren’t just yet).
Of course, we’ve booked our summer holiday for September, which likely means it’ll be chucking it down by then so no doubt relief will be due soon enough - but I am going to try and make the most of it whilst I can!
Thank you, as always dear subscriber, for reading!
Greg Xx
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