Back to the Stone Age

I had a choice of jobs to do today but, given the number of emails and comments I received yesterday accusing me of wanting to take humanity back to the Stone Ages, decided to go with the flow and get all “primitive”. I’ve been planning to extend the berry patch in the front garden into an area filled with boulders, then use the boulders as a border for a raised herb bed. I spent most of the day levering the smaller boulders out with a crowbar and then carrying them away, but left this monster until last. It was buried six to eight inches in the ground and weighed more than my 85kg.

Spring - in February

We’ve had another mild, sunny day in Aberdeenshire with temperatures nudging 12C so I’ve been working outside in my boilersuit, sans jacket, scarf and thermal underwear.

If that wasn’t strange enough - it is February and this in north-east Scotland - the raspberries, gooseberries, tayberries and blackcurrants are all in bud, the pussy willow in the front garden is in bud, and the grass is starting to grow.

And to top all that, when I was in the workshop this morning a pair of swallows flew in and started looking for a nesting site among the rafters!

Final nail for the global warming denialists?

There is a 90 per cent probability that the climate changes being seen around the world are the result of human causes, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

The BBC has reported that the IPCC will take a much stronger position on climate change when it presents its next major report on Friday.

It should the final nail in the coffin of the global warming denialists, but from the rantings I’ve received in the past 48 hours I suspect they will still be screaming “nothing has changed” as the seas first cover their knees, then their chests and finally their necks.