Stormy Weather

[alycidon]

Another lovely day here. That's three in a row. Pity I have to go to work till 8 pm.

Another super day in the Highlands, too! If it's any consolation, mangers, I haven't been sitting in the sun as I've had too much to do on the computer. But yes, I do feel for you.

[Don Petter]

Very hot here in Paris. 84 yesterday and mid-70s today, though as yet none of the predicted thunderstorms.

[Serial_Apologist]

I had an email from marthe who sends her best wishes to the Board. She and her husband are well and busy but they had ‘a dreadfully cold spring’. Marthe also sends her deepest sympathy to gamba’s family, and hopes that salymap is well cared for and comfortable.

Apologies for cross-threading (ds)

Down here in Kent, there must have been quite a downpour in the night which hadn’t been forecasted. This usually happens after I spend hours watering the garden.

It's one of the best forms of rain dance, dovers. Whenever I catch people washing their vehicles on fine sunny days, I always warn them that it will make it rain!

No rain as yet here in London, and no sign yet of the warning clouds that have been around since dawn bubbling up to give us the thunderstorms that are predicted, though it feels quite humid and the temperature has now reached 23 C.

[Nick Armstrong]

Forgive me for prolonging this subject, but can someone tell me why it is ok for a multitude of cyclists to get their kit off but not, apparently for Mr Stephen Gough (aka the Naked Rambler) who's been arrested numerous times, to do the same?

Puzzled.

Interesting Pet - the same thought occurred to me. The official site says this in the "FAQ" section:

Will I be arrested for nudity?

If you are riding in London, Brighton, Manchester, Southampton, or York, there is almost no risk of arrest. Police are fully aware of our bike protests, the routes and the nudity it involves. The London ride had police approval every year since 2005 and police even provide traffic control. For more info, see the 2005 e-mail exchange we had with the police.

For other rides, note that nudity isn't illegal in the UK, but using nudity to intentionally cause harassment, alarm or distress may be illegal. Don't act offensively and you are unlikely to be arrested.

Further detail here: http://wiki.worldnakedbikeride.org/i..._public_nudity

Don't know enough about your rambling friend. If he just wanders around far from civilisation and 'keeps himself to himself' it is difficult to see why he keeps being run in...!

Anyhoo....


.... back OT - not a drop of rain so far in London, and tomorrow it seems as if it will be slightly less humid but pleasantly sunny and warm.

Come on S_A - you have yet to declare your intentions! West Norwood starting point is probably a good start point for you, no? :bigggrin:

[alycidon]

It's one of the best forms of rain dance, dovers. Whenever I catch people washing their vehicles on fine sunny days, I always warn them that it will make it rain!

And you are so right! I washed my car this afternoon for the first time since getting it in February, and within minutes of my having finished, a breeze blew up, the sun went in, and it became colder. So goodbye, three glorious days!

[Serial_Apologist]

And you are so right! I washed my car this afternoon for the first time since getting it in February, and within minutes of my having finished, a breeze blew up, the sun went in, and it became colder. So goodbye, three glorious days!

And by now, Caliban should have had his thunderstorm. Well, we did, around eight this evening. I've volunteerred myself for some chugging down the Whitgift in Croydon tomorrow, so I hope they're right about it remaining dry, though I will be cycling down there fully clothed!

[Nick Armstrong]

I've volunteered myself for some chugging down the Whitgift

Could you elucidate?!

[Serial_Apologist]

Could you elucidate?!

Tin rattling for a charidee, cali. Wonderful people:

http://www.dystonia.org.uk/index.php

[Nick Armstrong]

Tin rattling for a charidee, cali. Wonderful people:

http://www.dystonia.org.uk/index.php

I've learnt lots of new things here this week: 'mamil', 'chugging', indeed also: dystonia.

[Anna]

'Chuggers', where teams of people (usually four, two on each side of the street so there's no escaping) try and sign up people to direct debits for a charity, have been banned here by the local council as they were very aggressive in their approach, in particular with elderly people who were too polite to tell them to Chug Off! Tin-rattlers, who have to be licensed, are a different matter, so I hope S_A gets a full tin for Dystonia - which I also hadn't heard of and sounds a horrible condition.

Ontopic, one heavy shower yesterday lunchtime turned the atmosphere into something resembling Singapore as to humidity, rain didn't start until about 9.30pm with drizzle, then came down slow and steady through the night which meant a good soaking for my new plants without damaging them. No thunder, just a calm night but really muggy. Today just grey, warm, damp and likely to stay that way over the weekend.

[BBMmk2]

Yes, we had a heavy shower lunchtime, just after we had a picnic lunch! :)

Not a bad day today but rather humid this morning but I think it could be becoming fresher?

[BBMmk2]

I think ideal weather conditions yesterday, for Trooping the Colour. Gets better every year. Next year's hoping it will be the best one yet!

[richardfinegold]

Heavy thunderstorms here last night. During the Manfred I couldn't tell if it was thunder or a kettledrum

[BBMmk2]

Not much going on here, at the moment, I see? Pity. Anyway, a lovely glorious day today, after rain, quite early on. Nearly the end of term now! :)

[Serial_Apologist]

Not much going on here, at the moment, I see? Pity. Anyway, a lovely glorious day today, after rain, quite early on. Nearly the end of term now! :)

That rain must have leapfrogged London then - all w had were a few drops at around nine last night.

Here it's been absolutely lovely today, and with light winds, tempertures not exceeding 21 C, and enough thin high cirrus to take the intensity out of the midday midsummer sunshine, I decided at the last minute to make today one of my long bike rides of the year. And so, I left here at 11.30 am, and making my way to Mortlake via W Norwood, the South Circular Road, Clapham Common West Side, Wandsworth High St, Putney High St, Barnes and the enchanting Thames Way tow path to the picturesque Ship Inn on the river front at Mortlake, I crossed the River at Chiswick Bridge, and then, in a manner of speaking, left London a distant memory by taking the Thames Way as it runs as a narrow lane along the northern bank, edging the almost rural Duke's Meadows, before ducking beneath the Waterloo to Hounslow railway line, continuing mostly by the riverside apart from a couple of short diversions until linking up with where it becomes a motor-free pathway, affording spectacular views up and down the River, and lined to the north by the back gardens to some of London's most imposing Georgian residences, including William Morris's Kelmscott House, along with several delightful pubs with seating onto the paved walkway. Being pretty parched by this point - I'd cycled 14 miles and it was 1.15 pm - I stopped off at the Blue Anchor, 50 yards short of Hammersmith Bridge, "Established 1722", for a welcome half of lager and the hostelry's one and only Veggie Burger, going at £8.75 with either melted Cheddar or Stilton (I had the Cheddar): which may seem steep - and I imagine some of you probably thinking, hmmm, London prices eh! - but which came with a filling of all manner of things veggie half an inch thick, including huge roast mushrooms, impregnated in olive oil, all packed in between the two halves of a large bap, half the rest of the plate massed with lettuce, cucumber, sliced tomaties and cress, and the remaining space covered with a huge pile of the most delicious French Fries I have ever had. I should imagine the ingredients from my local St Sprees would probably have tallied that much in coinage; so, nothing to complain about, and I certainly pass on the otherwise nonedescript Blue Anchor to any would be comers who might now be salivating as they read this, without hesitation.

From this point on I had worked out a 9 mile journey home, taking in Battersea Bridge Road - fondly remembered as viewed as a child from the tops of buses - Hurlingham Park, Wandsworth Bridge, Clapham Common North and West, and thence back along the South Circular. I made it home by 3.40. I have to admit to having taken the last 10 minutes on foot, my poor old knees al but done in. Whether this is down to side effects from the various drugs I now have to take, or just a creeping sign of age to add to all the others, is hard to say; I find nothing more enjoyable than cycling, and will no doubt one day be sad to find the exertion of such journeys too much to demand of myself; meanwhile I intend keep going as long as I can.