Met Office downgrades summer forecast

A really embarrassing day for the Exeter Met Office. Before the start of summer they had confidently predicted that there would be a "barbecue summer" in 2009. They have chosen one of the wettest days of this soggy July to severely downgrade expectations for the rest of the season. Once again it is the fault of the jet stream: in June it looked as if it would ensure most of the nasty 'lows' would be tracking eastward with their centres way up toward the north of Scotland. That was June. Now the jet stream is much much further south resulting in our area getting plenty of miserable weather reminiscent of our two previous 'summers'.

The Met Office were extremely unwise to use the words "barbecue summer". They had included some caveats in their long range forecast which wasn't quite so optimistic as people are perhaps making out. But what the MO and anyone else liable to make public statements in this media driven age really have to understand is that people always remember short snappy phrases and soundbites no matter what other message surrounds them. In this case just those two words "barbecue summer".

Quite correctly the forecasters have pointed out the drier than usual June with a good Wimbledon fortnight and even Glastonbury didn't get much of the wet stuff. The thing is though that anyone with children doesn't think of June as being part of summer (although it obviously is and contains the longest day). No it's when school holidays start that a lot of people think about summer weather. But there we go. So will the Met Office stick their necks out prior to summer 2010?

Totnes leads the way - in the political process

Attach the word "first" to a news item about Totnes and many of us will be thinking about some environmental development or alternative lifestyle such is the reputation of this town in Devon's South Hams. However this is something very different - it's all about politics believe it or not!

Actually the 'Totnes' constituency is a bit of a misnomer. In reality it is a small country town and I can't understand why the name 'South Hams' or 'South Devon' isn't now employed, the other constituencies in Devon with the exception of Plymouth, Exeter and Torbay don't use a town name so in truth 'Totnes' in this context is a bit of an anomaly. But I digress ...

A quick bit of recent history. It will be recalled that sitting Tory MP Anthony Steen got into some hot water with his expenses and notably his reaction when this information got tossed into the public domain via the pages of 'The Daily Telegraph'. Like may another MP who has been subjected to embarrassing revelations he has stated he will stand down at the next general election. Therefore a new prospective Conservative candidate has to be found. This is where it gets interesting: the local constituency party has now got a short list of three - two women and one man as it so happens - and it has been decreed that ALL the electors in the constituency will get the option to make a choice as to which of the three should get the nomination regardless of their political allegiance. This is really groundbreaking stuff.

There was a public meeting over this past weekend at which all three prospects could be quizzed. By all accounts it wasn't just the diehard Tory activists who attended and the meeting was judged to have been quite successful. Those interested in this exercise have to return their voting forms by this Thursday I believe.

So some thoughts on all this. In principle creating a system that permits better public participation in the political process has to be welcomed I would have thought. The Western Morning News had thumbnail photos and very brief background information on all three candidates but what I would want if I lived in South Devon would be some really hard detail as to what they believed in, an example of this would be their attitude to a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. I'm not clear from the media as to whether those who couldn't attend this one husting have been provided with decent information on the threesome so that they can make a really informed choice, this would have been of great interest. I have stated before that I don't have any natural allegiance to any one party but that I am more interested in the nature of the person who could be my MP. As there are about 69,000 voters in the 'Totnes' constituency it hasn't been a cheap process for the Tories but at least it's useful business for the Post Office!

The result should be known by the end of the week and it will be particularly fascinating to find out the percentage of those eligible who have returned their voting slips.

End of MSC Napoli saga

Yesterday evening I watched 'Spotlight', the local BBC news programme, as I often do. One item that particularly caught my eye was the story that the last piece of the stern of 'MSC Napoli' has now been lifted from the waters of Lyme Bay just off the beach at Branscombe. So ends this saga - well almost. The two barges on which have been loaded the vast array of scrap metal that once formed part of this container ship are still on station but are due to head east to, I think, Rotterdam next week.

So it won't be long before all visible signs of the vessel's presence will have gone. Having said that the anchor was given to the village in recognition of the tumultuous events the locals witnessed and is there near the shoreline for all to see. The Dutch salvage firm had declared that the contract would be completed by the end of July. So all credit to them for achieving this feat.

Tom Daley wins in Diving Championships

If you have read this blog regularly before (has anybody been that mad?) then you will know that I don't normally 'do' sport but that if some person or team from my two counties does well then I'm only too happy to flag up the fact. So step forward 15 year old Tom Daley from Plymouth who has won a gold medal in the 10 metre platform title in the Diving World Championships in Rome. This of course is a truly massive achievement for one so young. Prime Minister Gordon Brown was quick to congratulate him. He, the PM, has had the unfortunate apellation "Jonah Brown" applied to him by at least one blogger because on numerous occasions he has either sent the sportsman or team a good luck message or attended the event himself only for failure to occur. Presumably then he hadn't sent Tom any such message prior to the young lad's triumph!

Second dragonfly disappears

I haven't felt particularly well for a couple of days - no I'm not asking for sympathy, and no I haven't had swine flu! Just mentioning it because there is so much I would like to blog about at the moment but just I haven't felt motivated to do it. To be honest there is a well nigh inexhaustible supply of material I would like to write about / comment on all the time but lucky is the person who can keep up a large output on their blogs; in fact I think it is fair to say that blogs come and go quite regularly and of course people's circumstances readily change and one cannot be surprised if some folk cease blogging.

Anyway I'm much better now thank you! A quick update on the last post about the dragonflies. The second one to hatch out was still there and looking worryingly motionless the following morning but by lunchtime had disappeared. Hopefully then it had flown off and not fallen back into the pond (no sign of that) or been taken by a bird. I suppose that like most of nature there are huge variations - some dragonflies taking off in an hour or two after hatching whereas some like mine take more than 24 hours to make their maiden flight.

Thank goodness we are having a break from the rain now. For much of yesterday we endured the wet stuff. It's still breezy today and apart from the one lonesome red admiral the buddleia is not being visited by butterflies. However the bumble bees are at least taking advantage of it.

Dragonflies hatching and buddleia in bloom

This past week has certainly been an unsettled one weatherwise and the outlook for the next few days isn't particularly encouraging either. It's always the case I think that we tend to forget isolated good days and even the drier than average June with its mini heatwave now seems to be a distant memory. When we walked by the river this afternoon it was noticeable just how much its level has risen and our respective garden ponds are now nicely topped up as well.

Garden ponds. What a privilege to have one. Mine is very small and had been created, I think, by the previous owner. I had planted irises in mine a year or three back. They are glorious during their very short flowering period but one less prominent reason for my getting them was because of their tall stems and leaves which just happen to be a practical route for the dragonflies in the pond to emerge from the muddy depths and break out of their rather unappealing cases. So I was delighted early this morning to observe a couple of these fascinating creatures clutching the foliage of the irises and with their paper thin wings outstretched. I think in the past, maybe on drier warmer days, they have gained strength and taken to the wing quite soon after "hatching out". Our two today though were still on the irises when we came back from our walk in the late afternoon. Since then I have been repeatedly checking on them and it was 7.30 this evening before I noticed one of them had taken to the wing.

It is now 8.20 pm BST. Slight pause in the proceedings as I go out to the pond yet again to check on dragonfly number two. It is still there. Not looking very comfortable clasping its leaf or so it seems to me. I will check again early tomorrow morning.

The rain seems to have contributed to simply colossal growth this year. I don't think I've ever seen my white Shasta daisies (now out) and my golden rod (soon to come out) look so tall. More accurately regarding the golden rod there is a small stand of a smaller variety of this flower which comes earlier and is displaying its rich yellow but the more vigorous larger one is not quite there yet. I'm looking forward to seeing the bees and hoverflies that adore the 'rod'. Meanwhile my marjoram - like the golden rod it turns up all over the place - is keeping the bee population busy. As it so happens bees, particularly bumble bees, share the same enthusiasm as I have for certain flowers. If they want a change from the marjoram then my large buddleia is now fully out. Fortunately this bush has a relatively long flowering period and I hope it won't be too long before the butterflies start visiting it. Spotted a nice bright red admiral which lodged itself on my friend's shoulder. Let's hope for some decent weather before long and many many more butterflies!

Double glazed windows fitted

Yesterday was something of a red letter day in the history of my Cornish cottage. I've moved into the twenty first century with the two main windows of my home being replaced by double glazed units! Being a mid terraced cottage there isn't a lot of fenestration, in fact I have a total of just five windows. Of these three are quite small and of the casement type and certainly for the moment can soldier on but there are also two more substantial sash windows and they were getting to the stage where something fairly drastic would have to be done. Enemy number one in Cornwall is the considerable damp that we experience (the countryside never fails to look green and lush and wellies are the most important footwear items to own) so combating this damp is always likely to be the most pressing problem a homeowner has to face here.

With the downturn in the housing market and less cash for home improvements the double glazing firms have been taking to the road in my neck of the woods. This may also be because folk such as myself have wised up to the telephone preference service which stops cold callers ringing when you are just about to take your tea out of the oven or watching the most exciting moment in a film or, in my case for example you just do not want cold callers, period! The outcome of someone knocking on my door and subsequently making an appointment was that I took a deep breath and gave an order to 'Everest' to supply and fit two new windows.

I have just been reading a review site as a prelude to writing this piece in which a number of people have had really bad experiences with Everest but these seem in the main to have been quite tricky serious construction projects sometimes with sub contractors involved. In the dim and distant past I seem to recall Everest getting a slating on the old Watchdog programme with some viewers disasters. However in my case it was just a relatively straightforward case of two old windows out and two new ones in and furthermore that firm had fitted replacement windows in at least two other properties in the row. Our houses aren't listed or in a conservation area and unsurprisingly are seeing an invasion of UPVC. Not my home though! Although timber windows are a horrendous price I have always been determined that nothing else would do (or wood do perhaps I should write - just thought of that!).

So what's the verdict? The new windows appear to have been made to a very high standard, apparently a firm in Scotland makes the timber windows used by Everest and I imagine that computerised machinery is used in the process. Certainly the surveyor spent a considerable amount of time here measuring to the millimetre and the installation was a nice snug fit. The sashes are made to a close tolerance seemingly - it takes quite a moderate effort to heave them up or push them down and I would think that someone who wasn't very strong might find them a bit of a struggle. As with the originals I asked that they be painted in white and that is how they arrived. The two relatively young lads who did the installation were polite and very hard working. I don't know that they stopped between arriving a little after nine in the morning and leaving mid afternoon. They did a very professional and clean job and caused virtually no damage whilst doing it. During the course of the morning a lady from their office phoned me to see how they were getting on, a nice touch.

For this job then the company was really good but if I was having a major job done - having some sort of extension built, moving services etc where there was likely to be sub-contractors muddying the water I would be tempted to go to a well established and reputable local builder. As to durability, if I'm still here in ten years time and still blogging, then I'll let you know how the windows have performed under Cornish climatic conditions!

UPDATE: Had a phone call today (17 July) from the DG salesman. He asked if he could pop round later which he has now done. He wanted to see his client to make sure all was OK - this was good to have a little after sales service. I mentioned that I had made an entry on my blog praising the service I had received from Everest but pointing out I had mentioned the fact that some people had been very unhappy with the firm as evidenced by a review site I had visited. He made the obvious and valid point which I knew he would that there are some people you cannot please but I did point out to him that the main criticisms appear to have been regarding major improvements where sub-contractors were involved. Chris reckoned that Everest no longer employ sub-contractors except on driveways where they use just one specialist company. So hopefully there is now proper quality control.

I mentioned to him that I was pleased with the attitude and professionalism of the fitters and he thanked me for that and said he would relay that information back to his boss. If workmanship is well below par then I believe people have a right to complain but I think also some praise isn't a bad thing when one is the recipient of a job very well done. I have to say that when it comes to tradesmen there are some exceptionally good men and women out there and it's too easy to take them for granted.

Statue of Liberty fully reopens

To any of our American cousins who might be reading this can I wish you a happy July the Fourth! I know that The Statue of Liberty is one of your most iconic structures but since the 9/11 atrocity it hasn't been possible for the general public to ascend to the very top although I believe landing on Liberty Island and going to the top of the pedestal has been permitted. Good news then that the Obama administration has chosen today for the restricted access to be lifted so that once again people can make that long climb up the spiral staircase right up to the crown. It might sound as if I know all about it but in reality I've been educating myself by looking at a piece here by BBC reporter Matthew Price including some video.

I don't know whether the video will be up on the BBC website indefinitely, I have a feeling that they just don't have the webspace to retain every video that gets a showing on their site. However by going to YouTube and inputting 'Statue of Liberty Tour' for instance it should be possible to see what it's all about even if we do lose the BBC video eventually.

Fascinating just how restrictive the space is on the spiral staircase. I assume there is radio communication to prevent ascent and descent of sightseers simultaneously - I don't really think there is passing space on the stairs!

My knowledge of the Statue was incredibly vague. Its been very rewarding I must say to access the Beeb's piece and look at one or two other references as well. If I was ever to go to New York I would be strongly tempted I must say to do that ferry trip to Liberty Island and toil up those stairs.

The ID cards U turn very welcome

The Brown Government is carrying out so many policy U turns it is difficult to know which way it is facing! What's good though is that pretty well all of them have been the right thing to do but they have displayed an almost unbelievable level of crass stupidity in the making of the original decisions. For me one of the most significant changes after what I believe has been some eight years of wasted time is the announcement by the new Home Secretary Alan Johnson that there will be no compulsion to get an Identity Card. Thank goodness for that! I had always been irritated by the prospect of having to shell out more money for something for a person in my situation that was totally, utterly unnecessary.

Two particular points to be made about the ID card nonsense: firstly Johnson has said that the Government should never have allowed “the perception to go around that they were a panacea for terrorism”. I think it was David Blunkett who set the ID ball rolling and it was always being sold on the idea that it was essential to have them in the fight against terrorism. Although I never was entirely sold on this reasoning I did think that if that was a real justification then yes I would have to go along with that. But that argument put up by Labour now seems to be entirely bogus. Point number two concerns the money that has been spent so far on this exercise which is over £200,000 million evidently. I'm sure that money could have been spent more wisely.

ID cards haven't been abandoned entirely - Alan Johnson maintains that he and other Ministers are still committed to them and that they will be rolled out on a voluntary basis. This sounds like a bit of face saving for the Government to me. Another indication too of the great value of the internet is the fact that the organisation 'NO2ID' has been able to make its arguments heard. This government just can't get its head around the power of the internet and how it can influence attitudes.

Thunderstorms. What thunderstorms?

It's about 11.30 am BST as I type this and by now we should have had some intense downpours of rain and thunder and lightning. We had a sprinkling of rain much earlier but now it is just cloudy and humid. So what about the talk of flash floods and the rest. Well if you are living in parts of Ireland, particularly Dublin, then the dire warnings from the Met office would have proved very relevant as they have been swamped by bad weather. But, so far, nothing of note here.

In fairness to the forecasters the present weather set up is just ripe for tropical deluges: we have had this very humid tropical air off the continent for a few days so conducive to a thundery breakdown but it is the potential clash between this heat and the much cooler maritime air advancing from the west as a front comes in off the Atlantic that should be producing intense thundery outbreaks of rain. I have sympathy for the Met Office because these thunderstorms can be very localised - they have to broadcast a worst case scenario even though many places may not be affected.

Although the scenery is very striking here I live well down in the valley and it feels like being near the bottom of a ravine sometimes so precipitous are the valley sides. One result of this is that it's difficult to know what the weather is doing outside this immediate locality. All things considered though I wouldn't swap this spot for another to live in.

It is now just starting to rain but gently. Maybe a tropical downpour is still to come.

LUNCHTIME UPDATE:
Still cloudy here but reports in of very heavy rain and localised flooding in Truro and Mid Cornwall areas. Evidently then the Atlantic front has been dragging its heels a bit.