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Bottesford

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Everything posted by Bottesford

  1. One thing I'm noticing now - around lunchtime the sun is now back in my eyes again having been too high for the past 3 months. Sadly (and much like my old office in Nottingham) outside of the peak light months you're either blocking it out or contorting your head into stupid places to avoid being blinded. Pain in the bum it really is.
  2. We seem to have drifted back onto preferred weather conditions again - got a different topic for that - do move over to it as it's an endless debate with no winners.. but a fun one none the less!
  3. I do wonder if winter has got less unpopular than say it might have been in 1950? or 1850? It's now fairly easy to hide from the harsh outdoor conditions if you live in a fairly modern home, you can still buy most sorts of foods year round and electrical lighting is all around. Perhaps it would be a much less popular season if your only heat source was a coal fire in a cold, draughty house and the only food available was anything left over from the last harvest...
  4. Slightly noticed it here especially when storm clouds are around in the evening - the light can go on pre-9pm. Still it isn't getting dark early enough to interfere with the free evenings of beer gardens and my own garden just yet. But I am preparing for the dark inside based season with a pc upgrade to do some gaming again come October. And then watch the waistline expand to its winter norm.... what an unhealthy season it can be!
  5. Only on here would winter be favourite! Since most of winter in the UK is on average around 3-6c with westerly dampness (or easterly drizzle), next to no daylight, no garden to work on and everything is inside based I struggle to find that something to look forward to... Anyway back out to enjoy the good season!
  6. Yeah you can't really win in winter - the days are too short anyway. But moving back to BST earlier in late Feb/early March is definitely an obvious improvement since more people are awake at 6pm than 6am so daylight is better used then. Would feel like you were shaking off the grim cold season earlier too!
  7. It is but twilight returns to pre-9pm for the first time since early May. The 'rot' hasn't set in yet but things are past their prime! First sign of decay is when the swifts leave at the end of July. Will be very noticeable this year since they're extremely loud where I live and swoop past my windows screaming every evening. Lovely birds they are!
  8. Nah - blissful ignorance first, denial comes later.
  9. No sign of it being noticeable yet gladly. Mid August and you definitely notice something bad is afoot!
  10. Too hot.. well I enjoy extremes so I'm happy to see it get hots as it likes. But nights not dropping below 25c are too much without air con. Summer range (maxes): <20c - far too cool. 21c-23c - pleasant but no good in the evenings as it'll cool too fast unless its humid to keep the evening warm. 24-27c - ideal range. 28-30c - Middle of the day can be a bit much but splendid evenings if not too humid. 31-33c - Daytimes too much but evenings can be ok with low humidity. 35c+ - never really tried but suspect a little too much! Winter For me it's the middle ground I hate. I've had -13c here and it felt severe - no way you're hanging around outside for long and forget cycling its lethal. But its interesting so a happy to try even colder. 2-6c is my pet hate - too mild for anything wintry but you still get all the bad bits of it not being warm enough to be pleasant.
  11. Humidity is definitely higher in the UK than here. Mostly its dry warmth 24-27c which is damn near perfect. The exception is storms. The other week a storm came and an hour before the dew point shot up to almost match the temperature (27c) - felt like I was drowning! Then it went boom.
  12. I'm getting tempted by one here for the really hot (mins 25c type thing) nights. Not a lot of them that warm but last time coincided with when I needed to be up at 0430 to go see a client. Not fun!
  13. Always look after your skin for sure. I don't burn especially easily and tend to tan if I get a fair chunk of sun on me. I was walking on mountains (around 2000m altitude) on La Palma island just after the solstice this year... now around 2pm (solar noon there) the sun was directly overhead (85 degrees above horizon) - now that is intense radiation levels! But I did not burn as I has a hat on at all times and factor 30 applied every 2 hours to the rest of me. Got to protect yourself!
  14. Really?! -30c vs 30c? -30c is severe cold and your average UK home would not keep you at a habitable 18-20c against that. I remember that freezing March - even with heating on full pelt it only made it to 18c. Imagine another 25c drop! Without some proper gear, -30c is extremely hostile to human life whereas 30c is extremely common in areas with huge population. Try asking most of the populated world how they cope with heat - remember most people on this Earth live (and yes work too!) in warmer places than the UK and seem to cope just fine. I do understand the UK is not used to a bit of heat whereas most places at the same latitude (and in fact further north too) get much more of it. It's sure been interesting going through a more constant warm (but not hot) summer here - it just becomes normal instead of a sudden "oh my god its warm for 2 days lets frantically plan outdoor stuff before it turns to cack again" or (more like you) "oh my god it's soooo hot I can't cope, I'll never sleep". I think these brief plumes are indeed hard to adapt to compared to a more longer lasting thing so I'll give you that.
  15. You know you soon acclimatise.. Working from home I can just work in shorts and since its always warm and sometimes hot with no 'cool' days there's no loosing how used to the temperature I am. In the UK warmth and especially heat is so rare that no wonder when it does hit people struggle. Very glad I'm coming home on Friday to 30c or so - I've not had to wear trousers for over a month and I'll be damned if i'm doing it now!
  16. Yeah cycling late Oct to mid Feb was mostly always unpleasant. So much traffic (especially pre-xmas), dreadful visibility and you're unpleasantly layered up with cold extremities and eventually a boiling interior! The contrast to now with lighter traffic, good visibility and no clothing preparation at all from what you're wearing indoors is significant.
  17. Where it belongs - in the dismal part of the year! And yes it is a shame the wet weather its the weekend when I'm sure many (inc myself who is in Nottingham for a bbq) have outdoor plans after being stuck inside most of the week!
  18. Oh absolutely - the variety of opinion is what interested me! For me Berlin is very adequate heat wise- mostly mid 20s is about right but for her 30+ is required. My parents prefer low 20s and I know someone who find 18c more than enough (admittedly a somewhat overweight person!). For me though I like extremes, at least for a while so am happy to give +35c or -20c a go. It's 3c-8c with cloud & drizzle i'm allergic too - i.e. the average British winter!
  19. Lovely as 21c and clear skies is, for many that is only useful at weekends since 21c at 3pm is 18c by 7pm when they get home which, unless humid, rapidly becomes too cool to sit outside in. Having been enjoying 24-27c for the majority of days this month and without high humidity (except when storms are due) I can certainly vouch for how superb it is! Life is outside all the time instead of just on special occasions like back home. Do find these contrasting opinions interesting though... I was talking to an Italian girl at the weekend and she was complaining how Berlin isn't warm enough in summer. We looked at her and stated this is the best summer period for sunny/hot weather we'd ever experienced having lived in England all our lives. I then went on to say I knew people who found even the cool English summer too hot and preferred the drab English winter. She looked at me like I was from a crazy land of insane people...
  20. My experience of August from memory is a warm month (but lacking proper warm days >24c), very cloudy where the average was kept up by high night minima.
  21. I would argue the cool season goes on for longer than the warm given the latitude of the UK. I believe I am right in saying the global average temperature is about 15c overall. Given that the UK's yearly average is a fair way below 15c that makes it a cool climate country - which it really really is. Not cold, not hot nor in fact 'warm', but simply cool or mild. Given that most folks definition of 'cold' is when they need a coat/heating on and their definition of 'warm' is t-shirt weather then for certain the cool/cold season goes on far longer than the warm. I know last year the heating finally went off in early June and back on early October, although I did live in a cold house. At work it came on in October and off end of April (common in a lot of places I think). That gives 5 'warm' months and 7 'cold' ones... As for daylight I definitely notice those subtle changes in solar position since I try to 'chase' the sun around with my more important sun loving plants, especially early/late in the season. At the moment they're well covered in sun most of the day but as the season progresses they will need more movement to grab what they can before the frost kills it all. A sad day that always is too.
  22. Pah 24c with some air movement is easy! Try 29c, humid, can't open windows because of noise and having to get up at 4am to go see a client. After being in this very warm top floor flat having had temperatures well into the mid 30s by day and barely below the mid 20s at night and still being able to sleep with just a small fan... I do giggle when I hear the complaints on here about the distinctly pleasant summer weather in the UK! Saying that we've been below 21c for a while now which at first was nice.. but am deffo glad I'm heading on holiday tomorrow to a place with perfect conditions - 25c by day, 18c by night and cooling Trade winds drifting in...
  23. Yes past the solstice which is always a shame (lemme just lock the Earth in this position!) but at least over here I've actually had some decent warm & hot weather. Usually in the UK its only after the solstice we get something decent. I for one will enjoy these precious few weeks of ample light and the freedom to get things done at reasonable pace. It sure contrasts to when I arrived here in November and was trying to get to know my surroundings - it was very restrictive only having chilly weekends to explore things. It was February before I even saw some of the city districts I'd visited many times in actual daylight. They seemed a damn sight more welcoming in the light as indeed does this whole city during spring/summer. Every weekend there's parades, open air parties/festivals and all sorts going on. Back in winter it was a choice of pack yourself into a small smoky bar (no smoking ban here) or stay at home!
  24. Love the way you put it! I do know exactly what you mean about that 'change' that happens at some point usually in early Sept when things just feel different - the light changes, nature looks tired... For me its the sad resignation that the good times are retreating so make of it what you can before the long grim nights of winter approach. It's usually mid Feb when you get the exact opposite effect - a sudden feeling that the shackles are being removed - that first mild sunny day that brings you outside at long last. But it's only the February so the cold beats you back inside... but not for long... you know it's finally on its way out! But saying that, despite my preference for this lovely time of year, I don't quite get the level of despair in winter that you seem to be affected by. Perhaps Christmas helps a bit (jeez wouldn't it be awful if it was in summer!) although that awful feeling post new year (particularly this year- bit of home sickness perhaps!) sure brings you back down to Earth again. But even then, it's best to find some joy even in the darkest (or lightest) of times otherwise you'll spend 50% of your life unhappy. And that's a real waste.
  25. Yeah late nights are not so compatible with June that's for sure! Depending on how wasted you are it can make things a bit weird! It was only 20c here today - god send after the intense heat/humidity a few days back. Only 16c at the mo but can still have the window open. Back in my old UK house anything below 20-21c it had to be all closed up - this is much better!
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