Awful weather - typical Brits talk

Apodemus

Well, we've had a ten-minute thunderstorm downpour, with some hail in the mix.  I've seldom seen such heavy rain in this country, but the storm passed on as quickly as it came, leaving rivulets of debris washed across the garden.  

Woolsery

I'm just biding my time until I can get out there and do something constructive around 5pm. The day started well with some cloud that allowed a gentler start with pot watering, but then the sun broke through and it was more of the same searing heat. I could nip down to the gazebo and do a bit more chain sawing, but it's comfy here and I'm not even perspiring.The sun will reach this office in another hour, by which time I'll have made the difficult decision whether to buy a top up 600l of oil at 87p/litre or sit out more of August in the hope of further falls!

There could be something vaguely H2Oish  heading our way tomorrow twopenny, but  like apodemus, we may find it comes and goes with a bang!  

Today's plant is a form of Oregano I like, even if it's rather hard to propagate from divisions. The insects love it too:

Apodemus

Spoke too soon about the storm having passed!  It was back with a vengeance this afternoon.  Everything darkened to the point that we were thinking of putting the lights on, then 45 minutes of torrential rain and the wierdest thunder that I've ever experienced.  For about 25 minutes there was a background roaring non-stop from the sky above our heads, overlaid with a sharper crackling which was jumping around from place to place. Eventually everything got lighter, the rain eased and the sun started to reappear... at which point we had five minutes of hail! 

If we are getting all this at the end of a short spell of mid-twenties temperatures, I hate to think what you guys further south will get after a prolonged spell of mid-thirties!

molerat

Apodemus said:

Spoke too soon about the storm having passed!  It was back with a vengeance this afternoon.  Everything darkened to the point that we were thinking of putting the lights on, then 45 minutes of torrential rain and the wierdest thunder that I've ever experienced.  For about 25 minutes there was a background roaring non-stop from the sky above our heads, overlaid with a sharper crackling which was jumping around from place to place. Eventually everything got lighter, the rain eased and the sun started to reappear... at which point we had five minutes of hail! 

If we are getting all this at the end of a short spell of mid-twenties temperatures, I hate to think what you guys further south will get after a prolonged spell of mid-thirties!

We have had a couple of heavy showers, not too much, and no storm so just on the edge of it   Was doing a bit in the garden on Friday and it was just turning over dust so hopefully this little will help. Water butt has filled up though.

A few miles west the Vue cinema had an indoor waterfall in the foyer and Tesco roof seriously leaking with ceiling coming down and shop flooded.

twopenny

Good start though Woolsery.

It's hot again here as the breeze has dropped. Currently 28 in the house so off to do some watering and feeding early because I have little hope of the promised rain and just down the road from you.

Molerat, I'm guessing that joints have shrunk and the suddeness took it by surprise.

Drive carefully folk, the roads get slippery after a dry spell. Some 6000 visitors will be going both ways on our roads tomorrow. All holiday happy. I think I'll have another day at home.

Woolsery

My thunderstorm app shows lots of activity north of Hadrian's Wall, but nothing happening currently in England.

Just bought 700l of heating oil @84p/l. That's 20p/l more than I paid the day Russia moved into Ukraine. I doubt if there will be major falls now and 1800 litres in the tank will see us OK for a long time with the wood burner taking much of the strain. when we finally start to shiver....a long time yet, hopefully!

'Children' have just arrived here with their children, so all thoughts of chain sawing now abandoned!

Apodemus

molerat said:

Apodemus said:

Spoke too soon about the storm having passed!  It was back with a vengeance this afternoon.  Everything darkened to the point that we were thinking of putting the lights on, then 45 minutes of torrential rain and the wierdest thunder that I've ever experienced.  For about 25 minutes there was a background roaring non-stop from the sky above our heads, overlaid with a sharper crackling which was jumping around from place to place. Eventually everything got lighter, the rain eased and the sun started to reappear... at which point we had five minutes of hail! 

If we are getting all this at the end of a short spell of mid-twenties temperatures, I hate to think what you guys further south will get after a prolonged spell of mid-thirties!

A few miles west the Vue cinema had an indoor waterfall in the foyer and Tesco roof seriously leaking with ceiling coming down and shop flooded.

Yep!  That would have been our storm!  Glad you missed it molerat, but it has cleared the air and we can see across the Firth for the first time in a few days!

Apodemus

Woolsery said:

Just bought 700l of heating oil @84p/l.  

I'm getting tempted, but was hoping for a further drop.  It doesn't help that the site I was looking at was showing the price still above £1/L, despite the fall in crude prices.  My tank is 2,500L and pretty much empty, so I would normally be looking to put in a couple of thousand litres at this point.  I might hedge my bets and order 1,000L now and hopefully remember to add another 1,000 before Christmas.

I've also got some big branches to try and lop which are overhanging the tank, so I was reckoning it might be a good idea to tackle these when the tank is empty.  Now, if only this rain would stop...

Woolsery

Apodemus said:

Woolsery said:

Just bought 700l of heating oil @84p/l.  

I'm getting tempted, but was hoping for a further drop.  It doesn't help that the site I was looking at was showing the price still above £1/L, despite the fall in crude prices.

I don't believe crude oil prices will have as much influence as the push for net zero, which is why I decided to buy now. It's  clear to me things are not going to 'go back to normal' and the simultaneous governmental squeezes on those who produce food are the first skirmishes in what's to become a battle for the countryside, here, in Europe, Canada, the US  India, and throughout the world. Sri Lanka was a test bed for reducing artificial fertilisers, much trumpeted by certain influential people, until it all went drastically wrong. Web sites had to be quickly and radically revised, but they forgot The Wayback Machine!

I dare say our piddling few acres are of no great concern to the powers that shouldn't be, but we're close to organic and very low impact, so maybe we'll be left alone while larger fish are fried. The media's stunning silence over the Netherlands prortests says it all.

Speaking of fried fish: £8 for haddock & chips last Friday!  I think they want us to forget our heritage. Not that we don't do a lot of curry in this house midweek, but so far cricket stays on the telly, not the menu!

Has anyone else had their signature rolled back Asda style? Mine was pretty innocuous, implying that money doesn't solve personality issues, but now rather oddly it again relates to two gentlemen who've been particularly vociferous in the past few months, and not in a way many in the corporate media would approve of! People could do worse than check them out.

Sorry, bit of a rant today. It has rained, but not in a useful way yet. At least the temperatures are down and the plants won't have another extreme day of stress.

Farway

Apodemus said:

 Now, if only this rain would stop...

Now, if only the rain would start, My radar app has gallons of it over Dorset but will it dare cross the border?

My PC says rain on the way, but we all know about fake news online

Looking out this morning, my Judas Tree has started dropping its leaves, guessing it's had enough drought for this year and is getting rid of them early, one of my currants, never watered, has gone to Ribena Heaven. It's no loss really because I wasn't too keen on them anyway. It's in the same bed as my Merton thornless blackberry, which is now showing stress, that will be on the route for my hose next year

Unless something happens, only gardening today is more watering large pots with the hose

Stewed some of my apple crop, with the [watered] blackberries, so at least something to show for the summer