This Week in Wijnjewoude 2022

Suddenly  (colder in) September Last Sunday was the coldest September 18 on record, with the temperature reaching no more than 13.3 Celsius at the key De Bilt weather station near Utrecht, weather forecasters say. The previous record dates back to 1960, when the temperature was as low as 13.5 Celsius. Weeronline forecaster Johnny Willemsen points out that weather records about the cold are much rarer than those about high temperatures and the new record is the first in three years. So far, four warm weather records have been broken in 2022, Willemsen said. Many people (including me!) are weighing up the possibility of a mild winter - no one knows, of course, but we're hoping for the best - slight odds in favour of a mild winter... Rare but very cold winters, such as the Elfstedentocht winters of 1963 and 1985, pull the average down considerably.  For example, the average temperature of all winters between 1902 and 2022 is 2.7 degrees.  But the most common winter over the ...

Week 37 Seems to be a few animal/insect references this week From the Australian version of The Guardian the arms race against the cockatoos raiding our wheelie bins - made me wonder... rat catcher Our cats (Possum and Tassie) often bring things home and leave them in their food bowls - almost like a contribution back to us... mostly mice, but we have also had bats and moles - and last week a RAT! false wolf spiders These have now been reported in the Netherlands. They are quite common near the Mediterranean, but it is getting warm enough here now. A TV report said they are not dangerous, but can bite. wasps/hornets We had to call the Wespinator again this week (€80,00) - a nest of  Hornets under our thatched roof. There is also a variety called Giant Asian Hornet, but that is not this far north  - yet. (The ones we have a BIG enough!) rare dragonfly Across the road from us, I have seen a few people with cameras walking around some of the pools. Apparently, there is a rare dra...

  Week 36 One of the (too many) podcasts that I listen to is called "Oh God, What Now?". It started off being about Brexit and continues to look at the existing conditions in England / GB - still with a "what on earth were they thinking of" bias when looking at the consequences. I have the "Oh God What Now?" feeling with all the things we are dealing with at the moment. Covid (expected to worsen as winter comes) War (no comment needed) Nitrous Oxide (Killing off the local forests - but nobody wants to stop the farming that causes it) Climate change (we try to do our little, but seemingly futile, bit) Gas Prices (totally unmanageable - I hear things from England about setting household "caps" and "windfall taxes" - but not much here yet) Drought (who saw that coming?, including the consequences of the Rhine not having enough water - I haven't had to mow much at all this year!) It feels like there should be more on my list...eg ...