Hi – Gilly here. Wendy has allowed me to take over her blog again this month.
July has been a funny old month – probably best summed up as ‘Phew what a scorcher,’ bringing the kind of sustained high temperatures we in Scotland can usually only dream of. Snag is, we’re so unaccustomed to having long spells of ‘taps aff’ sunshine, we tend to wilt after a little while
and find ourselves rather guiltily hankering for a spot of rain, just for a wee bit of respite.
Sadly the past few days have seen that wish granted, rather too lavishly in some parts of the country which have been subjected to torrential thunderous downpours, substantial enough to cause flooding. Our little village has been hit twice by serious flooding in just over a year, so although the gardeners among us have welcomed the clouds, the rest of us have been eyeing them rather askance, hoping they won’t deposit too much of the wet stuff. After the long dry spell, our river is currently lower than I’ve ever seen it, but I suspect it wouldn’t take long to fill right back up again.
I used to love storms when I was a kid – they were a spectacle and thrilling to behold.
Photo by Brandon Morgan on Unsplash
Now they’ve become something to dread. Extreme weather events seem to be becoming far more frequent – and far more extreme. Is that entirely due to climate change? I’m not enough of a scientist to answer that, but like Wendy I truly believe we all have to do an awful lot more to protect our environment. Unlike Elon Musk, Richard Branson and Mark Zuckerberg, I have absolutely no desire to explore new frontiers in space. I’d rather much more investment of time, money and dedication was put in to protect our own precious planet.
Speaking of gardens, if you could see mine right now you’d know I belong to the ‘wilderness’ school of thought. It’s a million miles removed from neat and tidy, but birds and bees and butterflies absolutely love it, so that’s good enough for me. One half is planted with wildflower seeds and frankly I have no idea whether the resulting blooms are really flowers or weeds, but I like to think it’s providing habitat and shelter for little bugs and critturs. I won’t even charge them rent 😊
Comments