Stormy Weather

[cloughie]

Ditto Calum, Bluebell time is a fantastic sight. As to star and planet gazing I find it is known as Dark Sky Tourism a lovely way of describing it!

Referring to S-A's post about transferring water from the West to London and the S.E. The Environmental Agency Wales have ruled out Welsh water being transported due to prohibitive cost plus, although at the moment we are not in a drought condition out position is not good, any further dry conditions could result in Wales being in a similar position. Water metering in the SE is only 30% which is very low compared to other regions. I wish people would realise how much water they waste on a daily basis, not running taps whilst cleaning teeth at S_A says but using washing up bowl and using that 'grey' water to water plants in garden, having a water butt, a 5 min instead of a 30 min shower, not using washing machine to wash item only worn once, using dishwashers, etc., etc., plus, of course the Water Companies repairing the leaks!! (particularly bad I see in London & S.E)

And you already supply a lot of the West Midlands. Thanks for your little lecture on waste, Anna, changing to metering exercises the mind well in this direction. In fact dishwashers used properly use less water than doing it manually.

[Anna]

And you already supply a lot of the West Midlands.

Indeed, Vyrnwy and Elan were created in Victorian times for that purpose, but then to supply Liverpool meant the flooding of a inhabited valley in 1956

Everyone thinks Wales is very wet and running with water, but we are also suffering low rainfall so, yes, we must all consider not only how we waste water but the effects drought has on the environment and farming (and therefore food shortages due to crop failures)
Edit: Majority of post deleted as too political!!

[Serial_Apologist]

ah my, marthe, the seventies in Rutland! ... i came at the very end and the eighties were more my scene here .... Sam Healey kept the Noel Arms in excellent form as one of the two best pubs in the known universe - the other was the Jackson Stops in Stretton kept by Mr Robert Webster if you got to it ...

we were by the Hambleton Church and then Sykes Lane ... i suffered sunburn!

violets were just coming out should be seeing the bluebells soon ...

Mr Sam Healey led the project to twin Whitwell Village with Paris [something to do with EU and fishery policies were involved i think and also lamb] the notice announcing this twinning has only just been removed by the vandals and villains at the Rutland District Council ....shame on them!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNBNq...eature=related

[salymap]

The reservoirs in the S/E may be low but I've never seen my large lawn so green and lush. I've had a water meter for years. living alonethe bill should be low - not so, there are large charges for sewer repairs etc which make water very expensive although I am careful with it.

[Mahlerei]

We're and island, so why don't we desalinate seawater?

[Anna]

We're and island, so why don't we desalinate seawater?

I imagine that apart from the 1976 drought and the occasional hosepipe ban the Uk hasn't faced this critical condition so early in the year which may get considerably worse so the capital outlay on desalination plants has not been able to be justified. It's rather like the question of why do we not have more snow ploughs when, to be honest, how often do we get disruptive snow? However, if the population continues to increase, particularly in the S.E. then desalination will probably have to be an possibility.

[mercia]

according to this little film Thames Water already operates a desalination plant

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17348074

[marthe]

Ah water woes! I think we'll be having water shortages here as well. The reservoirs are at a decent level but there's been very little snow to replenish the ground water. Maybe April showers will help. Sometimes the rain "shuts off" late spring and doesn't return until autumn. Our water is very expensive and has always been metered. The sewer charge is actually higher than the charge per gallon used. Newport tax/rate payers are paying for very expensive repairs to the water system infrastructure as well as expensive, federally-mandated treatment to help keep Narragansett Bay from becoming too polluted. I agree with Anna about using grey water, not running taps unnecessarily, shorter showers. Cloughie is right about dishwashers though. As for desalinisation, were surrounded by salt water here but there's no talk of using it as drinking water.

Weather note: I hear fog horns which means that there must be some fog over they bay though there's no fog near my house. Warm air is moving in.

[marthe]

The fog has burned off! We have beautiful blue skies and warm weather. I have to finish cleaning the house before the arrival of #1 son tomorrow, then I can go out for a long walk and enjoy the good weather.

[amateur51]

The fog has burned off! We have beautiful blue skies and warm weather. I have to finish cleaning the house before the arrival of #1 son tomorrow, then I can go out for a long walk and enjoy the good weather.

Sounds lovely, marthe How long is he going to stay for?.

Another lovely sunny day here - coolish still but plenty of rays and mention it not but I've been watering my pots and flower bed from the tap via a large bowl, hoping to encourage the cherry blossom & my clematis

[marthe]

Thanks Mahlerei! Our son Christopher is arriving tomorrow evening and leaving Tuesday early afternoon. He'll be here just long enough to overcome jet lag before heading back to San Francisco. One of the big attractions this weekend is the annual St. Patrick's Day parade on Saturday. It ends just before the start of the England-Ireland rugby match which being broadcast live from a local Irish pub. The pub, named the Fastnet (owner is a sailor), is on the parade route so it will be jampacked with both parade watchers and rugby fans. Lots of ex-pats in this town so lots of rugby fans both Irish and English. Should be interesting. Our son, of course, will be meeting up with old school friends to celebrate the day and will probably join his dad in the pub to watch the rugby.

[cloughie]

Sounds lovely, marthe How long is he going to stay for?.

Another lovely sunny day here - coolish still but plenty of rays and mention it not but I've been watering my pots and flower bed from the tap via a large bowl, hoping to encourage the cherry blossom & my clematis

Fog cleared to give a bright day here, but a chill wind so 8 degrees, now going misty again, I fear.

[Anna]

Fog cleared to give a bright day here, but a chill wind so 8 degrees, now going misty again, I fear.

11.7 and brilliant here, all doors and windows open to let spirits in and out

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

grey and a cool 10c here with little splashes of sunshine ...

just cooked 'boiled dinner' for tonight but without meat and extra vegetables ...

[Serial_Apologist]

Fog cleared to give a bright day here, but a chill wind so 8 degrees, now going misty again, I fear.

Disappointingly cool for such a sunny day here too - maxed at 11 c this afternoon; just about warm enough to sit on the sunward side of the block red circling my way through next week's Radio Times. Very thick haze is weakening any warmth from the sun: the London Eye, the "Shard" and the tower block at Elephant & Castle that resembles an up-ended safety razor with the shaving end detached are barely visible. Over in the States and Canada the remarkably mild winter they've had appears to be over - 19 c (66 F) being predicted for New York today, temperatures in the low twenties C (72 F) from Thursday to Saturday in Chicago as a broad airstream flows up from the Gulf.

Warm here tomorrow, cooler Friday, and Saturday looks likely to be pretty wet across the SE with the passage of a slow-moving weather system; showers on Sunday in the wake, then back to dry.