Hi Everyone
Almost twenty five years ago we had a summer holiday on the Greek island of Corfu and the small nearby island of Paxos. As we were both still working we had to take our holiday in August. For nearly all the two weeks we had there, the temperature was between 35C and 38C with little or no respite at night. In both accommodations, we had no air conditioning with just an electric fan to keep us cool. We had a lovely holiday but, as you can imagine, it did restrict the things that we could comfortably do. What we did say after that experience was that we would never again take a holiday abroad in August and since then our holidays have always been in April/May or September. Now as we approach middle age, the temperature becomes an increasingly important factor so this month I am loving the cool wet miserable English summer like never before as the people of Europe suffer temperatures even higher than those that we endured all those years ago. This year, more than almost any before, the impact of global warming has given us a startling insight into what we might expect in future years with possibly Norway or Iceland becoming the new Spain or Greece. We will probably be able to hang on to our April/May and September holidays but our descendant's holidays could be much different than those that we have enjoyed.
Many houses have an attached or nearby garage. Most of those garages now seem to be storage areas for the many items we have hoarded over the years even though we probably use the stuff once a year or even less. As our house is right next to the lane our garage is a safe and secure home for our car. It is also multi purpose as it doubles as a laundry room with another wall covered with the controls for our underfloor heating system. In addition, it has two other important functions firstly as an area for Dot to tidy when we have a thunderstorm and, as I have realised during this weeks summer freezewave, the warmest room in the house. If energy costs remain high next winter, the car will have to find an alternative home as we install the TV, cooker, bed and comfortable seating in the garage. Having said all that Rubbish, I realise that we would have to have the lights on 24 hours a day so perhaps not saving as much energy costs as I first thought. At least the Senior Partner would be pleased to know that I was trying to save money.
From the age of fifteen, I have been a Jazz fan and that exposed me to the Great American Songbook, all those wonderful songs and melodies that were sung and played by some of the greatest singers and musicians of the last century. For me, the two best interpreters of this catalogue of wonderful music were Ella Fitzgerald and Tony Bennett. Dot and I saw them both live in the 1960s travelling on our Lambretta scooter to Nottingham on a cold windy night to see Ella and on four occasions to Manchester and Birmingham to see Tony Bennett. At the three Manchester concerts, he was with my all time favourite band - Count Basie. At two of these concerts, we took my lovely mother in law. She was a bit slow at opening her purse but we knew that it would be money well spent for her as she was really thrilled to sing along with Tony. I mention this of course as the incomparable Tony Bennett died this week at the age of 96. His last concert appearance was with Lady GaGa at the City Music Hall Theatre in New York just a couple of years ago. In his later years, he would end his concerts with a wonderful song called "How do you stop the Music Playing". Thankfully many of those concerts have been preserved on Youtube so, for me, the music will carry on playing until, like him, I finally reach middle age. RIP Tony and thank you for some great memories.
Just a Thought :
I haven't found a solution to global warming yet, but I am definitely getting warmer.
What's the difference between a Rolls Royce and a tin of paint? I don't have a Rolls Royce in my garage.
I'll call it a day when I die. It's a wonderful occupation to me. I have never worked a day in my life - Tony Bennett
Brian