Phew! Non-scorcio! What a relief – the scorcio temperatures have abated somewhat and the rain, when it finally came on Tuesday evening, was pleasant and gentle. Unlike in some parts of the country which experienced torrential downpours, floods and waterspouts! Better for the garden but still a long, long ways to go.
Surprisingly, the torrential downpours resulted in more discharge of raw sewage into the seas around Britain – this in addition to the 400,000 “routine” discharges of sewage which the water companies have allowed over the past year. These were “exceptional circumstances” on this occasion so that’s all right then. The situation was so serious this time, however, that swimmers were advised not to go into the water on certain beaches, mainly along the south coast. At the height of the summer holidays. When it’s baking hot.
So, while the CEOs of the water boards continue to be paid eye-wateringly significant sums of money and shareholders extract billions of pounds every year, the infrastructure is so feeble that it cannot cope. You remember that wacky idea I floated last week – no dividends for shareholders and no astronomical salaries for the CEOs until they fix the infrastructure and stop the leaks? You will no doubt be astonished to learn that there have been, “Calls to cut bonuses for UK water bosses until reservoirs built and leaks fixed.” You heard it here first.
So, the water boards between them leak 2.9 billion litres of water every day, enough to build an Olympic size swimming pool 36 miles long. 2.9 billion litres. Every day. I read somewhere else that the leakages in a year would be enough to fill Lake Windermere three times over. No wonder there’s not enough water when we go through a period of little or no rainfall.
We watched Little Miss Sunshine again the other evening. I had seen something about it online somewhere and thought to myself, “That would be fun to see again.” And it was. Alan Arkin as the heroin-snorting foul-mouthed grandfather is outstanding and I had completely forgotten that Paul Dano plays the “silent” colour-blind teenage son. All the pieces fit together so well and Olive’s performance at the beauty contest is simply marvellous. Well worth a second (or third, or fourth) look. A lovely film, very funny.
Most of you (some of you? both of you?) will know that we are currently suffering through a campaign to select the next leader of the Conservative party and, hence, the next Prime Minister. You will remember that the electorate for this contest are the members of the Conservative party – 0.2% of the population made up of predominantly old, white, men. The two half-wits running to be leader are so dismal and uninspiring that the membership would prefer Boris to either of them.
In a head-to-head vote, 63% of party members chose the prime minister compared with 22% for Liz Truss, Opinium found.
When asked about Mr Johnson versus Rishi Sunak, 68% went for the PM, with 19% opting for his former chancellor.
Sky News
So, two-thirds of the priviledged minority who are going to make this decision would prefer to retain the services of a lying, corrupt, misogynistic, racist, narcistic wastrel to either of the two dimwits who somehow imagine that they could do a better job and lead Britain out of the shithole it has become. It’s going to be a real shock when they discover that the Conservatives have been in power for twelve years and that they have both served in the cabinet which has brought us to this point.
Finally, I ran across this article about a couple who cycled more than 7,000 km (4,500 miles) across Europe to “draw” a giant GPS-plotted bicycle across seven countries to raise awareness of how cycling can help tackle the climate emergency.
I guess it makes a change from the usual GPS plotted routes of giant penises. You can read more about their expedition on their Instagram account.
And finally, finally Happy Birthday to Penny’s sister J (yesterday) and Happy Anniversary to Nick and Lucy tomorrow.
And finally, finally, finally, how can I resist sharing some photos of some cute kids: Annabelle driving a digger at my brother Steph’s place in New Hampshire and sailing Steve White’s boat on Lake George while sipping a bottle of beer (I am so proud of her!), Jessie and Julieta being adorable, Max on his first day of school and more of Julieta just being cute.
Meanwhile, keep happy, keep smiling, be careful, wear a f**king facemask in crowded places and keep your distance. And keep safe. And be gentle to wasps and bees.
Lots of love to you all,
Greg