Snow Hill

FoI’s are only applicable to public bodies, which Cruise lines aren’t. The port at Southampton is operated by Associated British Ports, again not a public body, so FOI not applicable there.

Our grandchildren always ate with us in the MDR.

Dumped Boots about 5 years ago for my prescriptions after numerous problems with them getting it right, I switched to local independent pharmacy and receive a much better service, Boots are not the same company since it’s takeover by US company WalGreen.

A friend of mine works for Fire and Service, they have been on high alert for the last few weeks, there have numerous small fires at roadsides, picnic areas usually caused by carelessness of individuals either discarding cigarettes out of car window, discarded glass bottles, BBQs not being monitored. The local council recently did a litter pick along side one the main roads, the amount of discarded litter filled dozens of bags, plus many items too large to go in bags. Also if you have a compost heap, make sure it doesn’t get dry, as the heat generated can cause it to catch fire if too dry, especially those in plastic compost bins. The temperature in mine yesterday was 85C, it was damp however as I had watered it with a full watering can the night before, but I will be enduring it remains that way after hearing of a couple of the fires that occurred yesterday started in compost heaps.

Apparently Coningsby now holds the highest temperature record for Britain recorded at 40.3C https://www.itv.com/news/calendar/2022-07-19/lincolnshire-registers-joint-hottest-ever-uk-temperature

Greenhouse temperature hit new heights today a 45.9C, had my large sprayer at hand an mist sprayed the greenhouse, as well as flooding floor with water, managed to reduce temperature to 42C. Tomatoes are fine in their self watering trays, although levels have dropped a lot since I topped them up at 10pm last night. This was a thunderstorm on the forecast a couple of hours ago but that’s now gone, temperature now at 33C down from is earlier maximum of 37.8C. Indoors it’s warmer that yesterday by a couple of degrees 25.5C instead of 23C which is was yesterday. Looking a totally different day tomorrow, overcast with temp around 20C, can live with that.

Had breakfast on the patio this morning first time for some years, then FB memory popped up for same day in 2016 when we had breakfast on patio. It was 22C when we sat down for breakfast at 8am, now back in house as temperature is now 30C at 10am, looks like it will be hotter than yesterday. Tomorrow is a more manageable 23C, but no rain forecast. Living room temperature at 23C, all curtains drawn and windows closed in the house, it kept inside temperatures down yesterday.

Well that was a warm night, had fan on, but still uncomfortable, just checked thermometer outside, lowest temperature overnight was 20.5C, currently 23C at 7:00am! Looking at predicted temperatures going to be another hot one. No volunteering today or yesterday as too hot and site has very little shade.

Certainly not normal for the U.K., only time of experienced temperatures this high at night is when I have been to Spain or Southern France in the summer. My wife messaged our friends in France earlier, they live in Brittany, they have had a max temp of 43C today, it was still 34C at 8pm their time, their swimming pool is now a warm bath. They have lived there 30 years since they moved from U.K. and said they have never known temperatures such as this. It’s still 25C here at 10:30,

Since I took the photo, temp has risen to 39.4C,

Temperature in shade in our south facing garden is 38.3C, was 30C when I reset at 11 this morning. Inside I sitting in lounge which faces north, temperature has risen to 23C.

Appears the Church of England doesn’t care much for the welfare of the children attending the local CofE Primary School, about an hour ago just saw children being marched along street from school to church. About a 10 min walk in blazing sunshine the temperature was 34C at the time, temperature as since risen to 35C for their return to school. Given the last day of school before end of term is Thursday you would have thought it would be sensible to postpone until Wednesday when it is meant to be cooler.

Out post was just delivered just after 9:30, 2 hours earlier than normal.

As up early decided to do some gardening whilst it was cool, so all raised beds hoed and watered raised vegetable beds, noticed that will have some French beans ready for picking later this week. Tomato watering system topped up to max, bedding plants in gardened watered, the bark mulch covering the ground will reduce evaporation, tied up clematis which has gone rampant in last week and full of flower buds, the most I have ever seen on it. Gave hanging baskets & troughs a further watering, deadheaded some perennials, sweet peas and roses. Very little wind about current outdoor temperature 18C, overnight greenhouse temperature only dropped to 16.9C and door was open all night! All this done before 7:30 this morning, don’t remember if I ever done gardening this early before.

Close the windows and curtains/blinds, we always do that in hot weather, the house was relatively cool compared to the outside temperature yesterday 31C outside and 23 inside in south facing rooms and 21 in the north facing ones. Awake early this morning, hall temperature was 24C, whilst outside is 16C, so windows & back door open to reduce temperature, once sun rises higher & temperature increases, then will close. Predicted temperature here today is 37C 🥵🥵

Pheasant is game and is shot, however this can only be between 1 October and 1 February, plus you have to watch out for the shot when eating it as not always removed, I guess P&O wouldn’t want to receive claims for dental work from passengers. I like venison and have had it on a cruise at least once, but again getting enough for regular serving may be difficult. As for rabbit not sure it’s that popular with the British tastes these days, reminds me of the joke when Bright Eyes was released in 1978 - “You have read the book, seen the film now try the stew”

22.5C in living room, does face directly north, so is naturally a cooler part of the house, we also find that the external insulation on the walls keeps the house cooler in the summer months. We have a tower fan as backup, too cook room if necessary. Just been outside to water hanging and wall baskets, temperature was 24C with a light breeze, quite pleasant to sit outside in, plus no repeat of last nights swarm of flying ants which caused us to rapidly relocate our evening meal inside. They settled on the brolly which was covered in them, however use of the hosepipe soon removed them.

Just back from a surprise afternoon tea, with family, all my siblings, children, grandchildren, step children and step grandchildren, the food was excellent, as was the sangria & Prosecco. All the windows in the venue were open, but boy was it hot, very much enjoyed by all those there, my wife has managed to keep it a secret since February, as have my children. Driving back the thermometer said 32C, got home a little cooler at 30C, now sitting in front of the fan. Looking out of window across the road to churchyard I can see a man sunbathing, he comes every other Sunday to “visit” his wife, usually with a strimmer to cut grass around grave. Today he has a chair and a cool box sitting next to the grave.

Arvia is designed for sunnier climates, primarily the Caribbean.

We were due to visit Monte Carlo on our cruise that never was in 2020 on the Oceana, which was cancelled due to pandemic, if I recall correctly the transfer to Monte Carlo was by tender, it might have had some to do with the Monaco Grand Prix being on whilst we were there. The port at Monte Carlo appears to be able to accommodate cruise ships up to 300m , however from this year it is limiting length up to 250m and passenger capacity up to 1250, which will exclude all the P&O fleet on size and passenger numbers from docking. http://www.ports-monaco.com/en/cruises.html Having been to VilleFranche whilst on a city break to Nice around 9 years ago, there is not a lot of room in port and I saw one cruise ship at tender.

We usually get our invite to book an appointment for flu vaccine around late August via our GP. Last year was very efficient the practice has multiple sites, it converted one to a flu/Covid vaccination site. Appointment for set time in through front door out via back, all very efficient using both practice nurses and a nurse practitioner through if 5 mins, appears they plan same process this year.

We should have called ar La Gomera on our Christmas Cruise in 2012, but was too windy to get in, plus the one docking position was occupied by a Saga ship that couldn’t get out, we hung around for an hour them moved in to next port of call of call Funchal. Not sure P&O could call at El Herrio as I think ship size is limited to either 1000 or 1500 passengers. The distance from Tenerife to the main island in Cape Verde is 1200 nautical miles, so it would take almost 3 days to get there, so unlikely to be included on a Europe based cruise, possible for a RoW or Caribbean cruise. Like the idea of Alexandria, not interested in visiting Israel, Istanbul is on list to visit at some point, my son has been there a few times and says you need at least a minimum of 3 days to do it justice. I would add Corsica, Sardinia and Cyprus to the list of ports.

A lot is said of the itineraries that P&O offer, so which new places in Europe for example would you wish to go that P&O don’t currently offer? This assumes: 1. There is a port nearby with the capacity to handle cruise ships 2. There is shire and excursion capacity for the volumes of passengers

Have been thinking about solar panels ourselves over last few months, we face directly south no trees causing any shade, so ideal. We were hoping that as part of process to move to more sustainable energy there would be grants available to offset some of the cost as there are with heat pumps, but nothing other than a cut in VAT. So if we went down this route we would have to bear the full cost ourselves. We have insulated the house as much as possible cavity wall insulation on the extended part of the house, additional insulation in bathroom in the extension by using thermal panels rather than tiles. The older part of the house has external insulation which had a remarkable effect on reducing our heating bills after it was installed in 2016, also put an end to condensation problems. We qualified for a 90% grant towards for the cost of the external insulation from a fund administered by local authority. Our loft has the recommended depth of insulation, all the windows double glazed and replaced the upvc front and back doors with composite doors, new boiler installed, all lights are Led, we use the eco functions on washing machine and dishwasher, not a lot else we can do indoors to reduce energy costs.

Was a busy day yesterday finally got around to cutting the Ivy hedge back, has been too hot previous days, filled the green bin with the cuttings, jet washed the patio area with my new pressure washer bought on Prime Day for £79 instead of normal £179. It removed years of dirt and grime in 45 mins. I have the slabbed area outside the garage at bottom of garden to do next, but need a longer hose, Will buy a 25m one and connect together. Decided to walk to chemist yesterday, instead of driving, it’s around a 3.5km round trip past the the lake and through a wooded area, I noticed the level of the “lake” had dropped by around 15cm and that the stream flowing into it and out of it had completely dried up. I have lived here for over 30 years and this is only the second time this has happened. The lake was created in the mid 1800s initially for storing water pumped out of local mines by damning the stream to create a small lake. The lake is now well stocked with fish and bird life and surrounded by houses, but much of the greenery and wooded area has been retained and makes pleasant walking and recreational area. Last weekend noticed that the level of the River Severn was low, a friend who worked for Environment Agency, said it would be much lower if not topped up from storage reservoirs in Wales.