It’s been a hot one this week, temperatures in our garden topped 30°C on several occasions, shade and fluids have been priorities all week. It’s curtailed a lot of the plans that I had and instead the focus has been on keeping the house and the dogs as cool as possible as well as ourselves. Friday and the weekend became a bit cooler and a welcome respite. We can only expect more of the same. We topped 42°C (110F) in the potting shed which the tomato and cucumber plants loved but they were the only ones!
Meanwhile another billionaire has shot himself into “space” (I’m sorry but it’s not really space is it, there was no passage through the atmosphere into orbit. Being shot into the sky in something akin to a giant dildo, which is barely in flight for ten minutes is not space travel it’s more like a glorified carnival ride). But have no fear, he’s not an astronaut.
I really don’t get it. I support meaningful exploration of space from a proper scientific approach but I just can’t support the massive waste of resources that this kind of “space” tourism brings. I can see benefits to the Space X programme supplying the international space stateion, although I question why it has to be private companies doing that, but what Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic are doing just seems like someone playing with very expensive toys.
We’ve seen just what can be achieved with tackling covid and “space” travel, perhaps it could be used on something else like tackling climate change or getting vaccines out to the remaining 99% of the population of poorer countries who have yet to have a supply of it?
We had a bomb scare in our little town this week. A “suspicious” package was reported outside Poundland and the town centre closed and evacuated. Now it’s not clear what was in the the said package, but the bomb disposal team deemed it not to be explosive. It does sound like it had been there for some time before it was reported.
I’ve had some new subscribers this week, if you are one of them – Welcome!
If you’re new here and wondering what an earth you’ve signed up to, welcome, this is my website / blog.
By training I am a biologist and by profession I generally make most of my income from being an independent environmental consultant. Outside of that I have a fairly wide interest in all sorts of things. I normally publish a post like this on the weekend at the end of the week (TWTW = The Week That Was), and talk about what I’ve been doing in the previous week, links to things I’ve found and anything else that I think might be interesting. Other occasional posts will appear at other times e.g. book reviews.
Thanks for signing up, but if after reading my ramblings you’re regretting your decision feel free to unsubscribe, there is a link to do so in each post if you subscribe by email. Obviously I hope you’ll stick around.
I also post on Instagram and Twitter where I am also @tontowilliams
Work
I was all set for a meeting this week, but as the date drew close I realised the details hadn’t been confirmed and queried whether the meeting was going ahead. Turns out it had been cancelled but no one had bothered to tell everyone invited. It is being reorganised but all the proposed dates are difficult, although not impossible, for me. Yet nothing has been confirmed so it looks as if that might not go ahead either.
Reading
I’ve not read much this week, my brain has just been too fried in the heat to make much sense of a book. I did pick up Philip Kerr’s A Man Without Breath again, which I’ve only read about half of. At this rate I might actually finish it this time. For fiction it is great how historically accurate it is and how many of the characters, particularly the minor ones were real individuals, now brought to life again.
Allotment
Far too hot to get much done this week, but with the cooler temperatures on Saturday I did manage to get some weeding done and a few other smaller tasks. The heat is causing things like lettuce to start bolting, and also the onions to finish their growing cycle. This year has been one endless battle with the weeds and it does seem like they’ve got the upper hand at times. It’s at this point each year when I’m thinking whether I am going to renew my licence in October or give up my plot.
Watching & Listening
We’re progressing with our Star Trek rewatch and watched films V and VI this week but other than that we’ve not had the television on much. I’ve been trying to catch up on a few podcasts but it’s one of those situations were as soon as I’ve listened to an older episode a newer one pops into the feed. So far I’ve been keeping the unread count about level.
Links
Cockatoos in Sydney are learning and teaching each other to bin dive for food
Grizzly Bear Terrorises Man for Days in Alaska – Rescued By The Coastguard
Neil Gaiman Also Working On Bringing Anansi Boys To The Screen
We had another vet appointment on Friday, we’ve reached the point where we’re not sure that any of the interventions that have been made are making much of a difference, so the vet is going back to the specialist for further advice. Until we’ve heard back we’re just carrying on as we are.
Well that’s about it for this week. In the coming week I may or may not have a work meeting, plus I am going to visit my Mum so will be sticking a swab down my throat and up my nose. I think I’m getting used to this, but each time is as unpleasant as the last but the thought of covid is worse.
Whatever you are up to this week, take care and stay safe.
Electronic Scrapbook 
We’ve been breaking some records with the heat and lack of rain over here this past month, too. Forecasts are not good this year for harvest. If we’re lucky farmers might expect yields to be at half of usual amounts, but that’s IF we get some substantial rains over the next two weeks. But, it’s more likely that drought will be continuing on for us into the winter months.
Of course, we’re being told that it is all due to man-made climate change and that “we” need to do more to stop it. Yet, as you’ve mentioned in this week’s post, those that have the real power to do anything about it continue to waste resources, while we regular people are being handed the responsibility to sacrifice and fix it all. Just makes me ill, frustrated and angry.
I’m supposed to feel bad that I use dead wood (which would be rotting away in a landfill somewhere anyway) to heat my 400 square foot house during the winter. Yet, here we are wasting all of these resources flying, transporting, feeding and housing athletes from all over the world to take part in Olympic “games”; not to mention the resources wasted on professional “sports” all over the world. So, rather than burn the mere 3 chords a wood to keep my family warm for another winter, we should just freeze, I suppose, so another athlete can burn more jet fuel to get to his next “game”.
If the world is in such dire conditions, why are we allowing so much waste on “games” and “sports”, when we should be focusing on saving our resources and civilization? Not to mention all that’s wasted by these billionaires and CEOs on their “ego trips”. Makes me sick.
But, what do I know, aye? Please don’t mind my rant. 😉
I hope that you can get some nice produce from your garden this year. We haven’t been able to do much, apart from growing a few tomato and cucumber plants indoors.