Stormy Weather

[Pianorak]

Actually I blame the jet stream which is stuck over much of southern England . . .

Seems Pianorak was wrong (Well, I did fail and had to resit the Met exam):

Contrary to popular belief, the jet stream does not "cause" weather conditions of a certain type to occur. Its existence is instead the result of certain weather conditions (a large temperature contrast between two air masses).

Weatherquestions.com

[Anna]

Apologies to all for my not spotting the rain area creeping up from France that's going to hit the SE tonight and tomorrow morning.

Don't blame yourself S_A!! Not your fault (and I see I'm in for a drenching this evening as well) My neighbours are driving to Plymouth later today to get the overnight ferry to Roscoff and a week in Brittany, I hope they have calm seas and a prosperous voyage!

[vinteuil]

I hope they have calm seas and a prosperous voyage!

yes indeedy...

nowadays we think "calm sea" is a good thing for, frinstance, a Plymouth-Roscoff ferry.

Of course in the days of sail - and of Goethe and Mendelssohn - a "calm sea" often meant "no wind" (d'you remember school readings of "The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere" ?) - and was the thing most to be feared...

[Serial_Apologist]

yes indeedy...

nowadays we think "calm sea" is a good thing for, frinstance, a Plymouth-Roscoff ferry.

Of course in the days of sail - and of Goethe and Mendelssohn - a "calm sea" often meant "no wind" (d'you remember school readings of "The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere" ?) - and was the thing most to be feared...

Ah yes - the slime of the ancient marinade.

[Anna]

Ah yes, and guaranteed to give any child nightmares:
At length did cross an Albatross,
Thorough the fog it came;
As it had been a Christian soul,
We hailed it in God's name. And then, he shot it!! Awful pome.

[Serial_Apologist]

Ah yes, and guaranteed to give any child nightmares:
At length did cross an Albatross,
Thorough the fog it came;
As it had been a Christian soul,
We hailed it in God's name. And then, he shot it!! Awful pome.

But quite a good version by David Bedford - recorded in 1975 by himself on sundry organs, synthesizers and percussion (including tuned bottles), with Mike Oldfield on guitar and Robert Powell narrating passages - on the Virgin label - which I sometimes wheel out to astonish friends.

[vinteuil]

Ah yes, and guaranteed to give any child nightmares:
At length did cross an Albatross,
Thorough the fog it came;
As it had been a Christian soul,
We hailed it in God's name. And then, he shot it!! Awful pome.

... nah! 'sa wunnerfull pome!!!

The rellyvant bit here is praps -

"Down dropt the breeze, the sails dropt down.
'Twas sad as sad could be;
And we did speak only to break
The silence of the sea!

All in a hot and copper sky,
The bloody Sun, at noon,
Right above the mast did stand,
No bigger than the Moon.

Day after day, day after day,
We stuck, nor breath nor motion;
As idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean.

Water, water, every where,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink.

The very deep did rot: O Christ!
That ever this should be!
Yea, slimy things did crawl with legs
Upon the slimy sea... "

The Goethe ain't bad, neither -



"Tiefe Stille herrscht im Wasser,
Ohne Regung ruht das Meer,
Und bekümmert sieht der Schiffer
Glatte Fläche ringsumher.
Keine Luft von keiner Seite!
Todesstille fürchterlich!
In der ungeheuern Weite
Reget keine Welle sich."

http://harpers.org/archive/2009/02/hbc-90004293

[mangerton]

Sorry to hear about the rain in the south. After driving from Bristol, I arrived in Gourock this evening to watch a beautiful sunset over the Clyde.

[BBMmk2]

It not been to bad down here of late but we have had torrential downpours recdently. A colleague couldnt get passed Petwroth!!

I thinik today be a mixed bag nof sunshine and showers.

[marthe]

Happy Summer everyone! The heat is on now. The rainy, gloomy, chilly weather of a few days ago is giving way to the triple H (hazy, hot, humid.) Temps wil be climbing into the mid 30s (90s...see I'm getting the hang of this.) Tomorrow will be the intake for all the hort entries to the Newport Flower Show. I only hope that it's not too hot under the marquee to wilt the ferns and take the bloom off the roses. Today the volunteers and I set up tables, wash vases (for cut specimens) and keep fingers crossed that the unforseen doesn't happen. Tomorrow there will be an army of passers, runners, registrars, plant ID experts etc. helping an even bigger group of exhibitors pass their entries for the show. Friday the show begins at 10:30 AM after the last design entries have been judged. Then I can "kick back" and enjoy the show, including the Friday evening Opening Night party (free tickets for committee chairwomen!) Have any of you been involved with a flower show in some way?

[salymap]

Happy Summer everyone! The heat is on now. The rainy, gloomy, chilly weather of a few

days ago is giving way to the triple H (hazy, hot, humid.) Temps wil be climbing into the mid 30s (90s...see I'm getting the hang of this.) Tomorrow will be the intake for all the hort entries to the Newport Flower Show. I only hope that it's not too hot under the marquee to wilt the ferns and take the bloom off the roses. Today the volunteers and I set up tables, wash vases (for cut specimens) and keep fingers crossed that the unforseen doesn't happen. Tomorrow there will be an army of passers, runners, registrars, plant ID experts etc. helping an even bigger group of exhibitors pass their entries for the show. Friday the show begins at 10:30 AM after the last design entries have been judged. Then I can "kick back" and enjoy the show, including the Friday evening Opening Night party (free tickets for committee chairwomen!) Have any of you been involved with a flower show in some way?

Afternoon marthe, I've only been involved as an interloper, a friend of the secretary of a small show in Surrey, as I happened to be staying with her and she took me along.
It was interesting to see bnhind the scenes, the squabbles, the arrangements to be made, the rush when the doors opened. The judges spent ages on some exhibits, hardly lookedat others and a [fairly] good time was had by all. I also had a very nice lunch, meat, which was welcome as I was staying with a strict vegetarian.

[Serial_Apologist]

Happy Summer everyone! The heat is on now. The rainy, gloomy, chilly weather of a few days ago is giving way to the triple H (hazy, hot, humid.) Temps wil be climbing into the mid 30s (90s...see I'm getting the hang of this.) Tomorrow will be the intake for all the hort entries to the Newport Flower Show. I only hope that it's not too hot under the marquee to wilt the ferns and take the bloom off the roses. Today the volunteers and I set up tables, wash vases (for cut specimens) and keep fingers crossed that the unforseen doesn't happen. Tomorrow there will be an army of passers, runners, registrars, plant ID experts etc. helping an even bigger group of exhibitors pass their entries for the show. Friday the show begins at 10:30 AM after the last design entries have been judged. Then I can "kick back" and enjoy the show, including the Friday evening Opening Night party (free tickets for committee chairwomen!) Have any of you been involved with a flower show in some way?

I was once involved in constructing one of the courtyard gardens at the Chelsea Flower show - it got us a Silver Gilt!

Enjoy it, marthe - here it's all downhill yet again, from tomorrow onwards.

[marthe]

The heat is climbing here. I just took all the pop-in screens out of the attic and placed them in the windows to get some air circulation. I'll be donning my apron and gloves shortly to do a bit of pot wshing (vase scrubbing.) I'll keep you posted of all the interesting bits from the show. saly, "squabbles" are part and parcel of the whole thing. We have judges who need an enormous amount of, what my mother called, "currying." In the FS world, judges are right up there next to the Almighty. S_A silver gilt at the Chelsea FS! I'm impressed! Sorry your weather is going downhill. best m.

[Serial_Apologist]

The heat is climbing here. I just took all the pop-in screens out of the attic and placed them in the windows to get some air circulation. I'll be donning my apron and gloves shortly to do a bit of pot wshing (vase scrubbing.) I'll keep you posted of all the interesting bits from the show. saly, "squabbles" are part and parcel of the whole thing. We have judges who need an enormous amount of, what my mother called, "currying." In the FS world, judges are right up there next to the Almighty. S_A silver gilt at the Chelsea FS! I'm impressed! Sorry your weather is going downhill. best m.

Phew - those judges must be hot stuff then!

[BBMmk2]

Rather mugggy here today, as opposed to yesterdays sunshine!!