It’s been a decent enough week, thank you for asking. We’ve had some lovely weather with clear skies, bright sunshine and temperatures somewhat higher than we might normally expect at this time of year. Autumn has come but you wouldn’t necessarily know it.
We enjoyed a lovely “not a pub night” gathering with our lovely neighbours last Friday. Penny and I had to take it in turns to attend – we had Annabelle with us for the weekend (Nick was up in Shetland) and, although she would have been welcome to come along, I don’t imagine spending an evening with your grandparents’ neighbours would come high on her wish list.
We’re up in Northumberland again. We came up on Wednesday and, again, the weather has been splendid. We’ve managed to achieve quite a bit on Penny’s To Do list. Or, should I say that Penny has achieved a good bit in spite of my best efforts to hinder her. Such as coming home from the builder’s merchant with the wrong trim which we didn’t notice until we had cut it to length and were about to put it up! Oops! We’re making progress but there’s still a lot to do.
We had a great day out on Friday. We made our way up the coast to Bamburgh Castle, one of those in Northumberland which is still occupied. Quite a contrast from the “rotten old ruins” of many of the others in the vicinity. It is a glorious castle built on a volcanic outcrop in a commanding position. Quite stunning to look at.
We had half-intended to go through the parts of the castle which are open to the public but when we got to the ticket office and saw the price of admission we decided to make our way to the sand dunes and beach instead. I am sure Daisy enjoyed that much more than being dragged round the grounds of the castle. Not only could she be “off lead” but she could run and shout and romp with other dogs on the beach who similarly were enjoying a grand day out. (Sorry, but I seem to have taken photos of the castle but none of Daisy enjoying herself. The one of Daisy below Penny took.)
Although I can hardly believe it, the baseball regular season ends today. It seems only yesterday that I was excited by pitchers and catchers reporting for Spring training and now it’s over, in the blink of an eye. The Dodger season carries on a bit longer – they are limping into the playoffs so get to play a few more games. A World Series Three-peat? Not looking too likely but that’s the joy of baseball. At this time of year I’m always reminded of Bart Giamatti’s essay, The Green Fields of the Mind. If you’ve not heard or read it before here’s a YouTube video of him reading it. Lovely.
YCNMIU
A couple for you this week.
Firstly, a wind farm off the east coast of Scotland is being paid not to produce electricity.
The Moray East wind farm opened in 2021 and is capable of meeting 40% of the electricity demand from Scotland‘s homes.
Five years on, it is failing to live up to those pledges. Its turbines have effectively been turned off almost 40 per cent of the time it has been in operation, including 60 per cent this year alone. Why? Because it is generating more energy than the grid can currently handle.
Over the last five years, more than £321m has been spent paying Moray East’s operator to reduce its output – the most received by a single wind farm in the UK
Over the last 15 years, upgrades to the grid have failed to keep pace with the number of wind farms being built.
Secondly, it appears that as many as 100,000 customers of South East Water may face water rationing if the region does not have significant rainfall in the coming weeks and months. In a country famous around the world for its prodigious rainfall, we could see water rationing. I wonder if they were to fix the leaks whether the situation would be different? It’s bonkers.
And finally, a series of photos in the Guardian showing the “before” and “after” stage of areas affected by the drought and heatwaves this year.
And finally, finally, I ran across the following in The Range in Alnwick yesterday. I thought they had their Halloween offerings out too soon but Christmas? In September? Seriously, you could not make it up!
Meanwhile, keep breathing, keep happy, keep smiling, keep exercising, be good, be careful, and keep safe. And, be gentle to wasps and bees – we need all the pollinators we can get. And, hold your loved ones close.
Lots of love to you all,
Greg