31.12.2021 A very silly 48F in December!?!

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Friday 31st 48F! Incredibly heavy overcast for 9am, windy, pouring with rain and foolishly warm. All day rain forecast. Might peter out by this evening for the fireworks. We went from -9C and snow to +9 C in only a couple of days. It finally stopped raining mid-afternoon. The workshop's outside thermometer showed 50F! The north facing one on the house only 48F. 

New warmth records are being set all over the place. Alaska 24th December 67F/20C! The record, for all winter months destroyed! 100F/38C in Arctic Russia in June.

Today's Jinping Plague news:  Remember: "Chinese genocide is a matter of internal affairs." All proceeds to the Chinese communist protection racket.

Xi'an: Cries for help and food in quarantined Chinese city - BBC News

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My poor, old car [from 1996] is misbehaving. Juddering and missing power on acceleration. It wouldn't start in the supermarket car park today. That was a first. Worn plugs? They looked old and grubby but not oiled. I have ordered a new set of plugs and a replacement rotor. A new distributor cap costs as much as the car is worth!

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30.12.2021 A barmy 41F!

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Thursday 30th 41F, leaden overcast. An unusually warm patch is rising over Europe from the south. 

There was little sense of winter cold this morning. No sign of any snow left after overnight rain and rising temperatures. Far fewer birds about today.

 

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29.12.2021 A balmy 35F.

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Wednesday 29th 34F, heavy overcast and misty but calm. It remained just above freezing overnight. The snow lingers on. With icy patches where vehicles had run over it. 

It started raining as I left the gate. Only briefly, thank goodness. I could soon lower my hood. Onward, with the company of many small birds in the hedgerows. I crossed a field by the spray tracks to escape the rush hour traffic.

Back along the main road in lighter traffic. Where a huge swarm of small birds moved nervously between the hedges and fields. The few I could catch in my binoculars were Chaffinches and Bramblings. The lack of wind made it a more pleasant walk today. 

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