Warm enough?

Mum had one of these indoor/outdoor weather stations at her flat, which has not made the transition to her new abode due to lack of space and her interest. So we have acquired it and have it in our kitchen. I dutifully placed the outdoor sensor on the shed, thinking it was good a place as any to pick up the outside temperature, and anticipated a clear indication of how warm or cold it might be outside.

I was wrong. Indoors, it was about 23 degrees. Outside it was showing 39 degrees. Whaaaat? I realised it probably needed to settle down. However, day after day, the sensor suggested to us that it was tropical outside when, in fact, it was still quite cool. Hmmm…. “Maybe the inside of the shed is getting very warm and transferring the heat to the sensor?” I suggested to John. “Maybe.” he said, shrugging his shoulders.

I left it a while to see if it would settle, but no. So, this morning, I took it down and had it alongside me as I ate my breakfast on the patio. The darned thing was still showing a warmer temperature outside than indoors when my own skin suggested otherwise. Eventually, I changed its channel and hung it on the ‘man shed’ at the bottom of the garden. That seems to have done the trick and the gauge is showing a much more sensible figure now.

But it has been very warm today, hasn’t it? Beautifully so, and I enjoyed sitting outside in the garden this afternoon with Philomena who came to visit for the first time in 18 months.

However, it was the discussion this evening at my little prayer/bible study group that got me thinking. We were talking about ‘global heating’ as it’s now called, and considering what we can do to help reverse the gallop downhill. Every action we take has an impact one way or another, and especially pertinent is our current lifestyle in contributing to a change in global temperature which, in turn, is changing nature around us.

Fortunately, the 39 degrees on offer on my sensor was incorrect, but in 2019 Graham and Gail were telling us of excessively high temperatures in Australia of over 40 degrees, which led to the terrible bush fires and the loss of both animal and human life, livelihoods and homes.

I must confess, I came home from the meeting feeling quite low. I was thinking, naturally, of G & G in Oz and missing them, and I was also thinking of the difficulty in stopping what seems to be the unstoppable. Has the pandemic made us all sit up and change our ways? I think not, although my fellow prayer group members thought otherwise. What do you think? Can we change and bring ourselves onto an even keel again? I’d like to think so, but I’m not sure.

• In COVID news, cases are still rising:
  • 7,673 people tested positive for the virus today, mostly the Delta variant
  • 10 people died with the virus in the community
  • 184 people were admitted to hospital
  • 4 people died in hospitals on 13/14 June

In other news, John has taken the innards out of the washing machine and they are disgorged all over the utility room floor. Watch this space for updates on this delicate operation.

Tale care everyone , it’s still not over – the fat lady has yet to sing.