This time last week, it was so hot, I was sticking to my desk as I typed. Today my office is a more liveable 22ºC and rather than being concerned about how to keep cool, we are starting to trap heat again, while ensuring that chillies and fruit aren't damaged by near frost conditions in the early morning. Once again weird weather is here!
I've frozen some 30 chillies now to see us through to August next year, but I am sure there will be more as the plants are reasonably well placed so they won't get frosted tonight and then things start to warm up again. We won't see 30ºC again this year, but I'm not sorry, it was wearing.
I've picked about 8 pounds of quince - well, 8 good sized fruits each weighing about a pound, and I will spend tomorrow morning chopping and boiling them while watching the broadcast from London. There are still loads on the tree too, but my batch tomorrow will be for making quince jelly and perhaps shredding one for quince liqueur.
Obviously when you get hot temperatures, particularly at the wrong time of year, they tend to end with a bang. As the maize was finally harvested in the field where I go to say goodbye to the day, we could also stand there after dark and watch the distant light show - once again, just a couple of millimetres of rain for us, but somewhere got soaked!
Conditions were right, and there were few insects around as well, so it was time for the meadow to have its annual mow. We don't take any of the material off the field, so it is there as a mulch, any seeds can fall and be eaten or can germinate, and the ground is clear for things to resprout and grow. If we didn't do an annual clear, the meadow would soon be overtaken by brambles and old man's beard, which would grow taller and taller, killing any low growing plants and providing meagre shelter while blocking access to the ponds. We know this, as there are still blocks left like that, which we are slowly turning to something better for biodiversity.
One effect of this is that the trail camera is marooned on its log in the middle of the meadow. So today I decided to move it. Actually the batteries need a boost, so I moved the log to its new position so that things can get used to it, while we boost the batteries and I clear the SD card. As far as I can tell there are a lot of videos of night as the deer have been setting it off just outside the range of the infrared lights, but the big screen may show more and prove me wrong. There are lots of videos of some bloke on a mower driving around too. Anyway, I hope next week there will be some films, but this week you will have to cope with just photos of a deer, a boar and the pine martin.
So much for change, but what about reflection? We don't have UK television, just radio and the BBC website, plus other news sources, not necessarily British. Last weekend our French friends were asking how we felt about the death of the Queen, to which our standard response was "sad, but not unexpected, and time to celebrate a life well lived". We have been able to separate ourselves from the media message in the UK, so cannot hope to comprehend what the sentiment and feeling is like over there. We watch with a certain incredulity as the queue to view the Lying in State takes on a life of its own. We will watch events unfold tomorrow, taking a day out to participate, mainly vicariously, as history is written.
When I was younger, if I had feelings about the monarchy at all, it was of a glittery entity that didn't really affect me or have any relevance for my life. My parents both met the Queen a couple of times, while my father met her father and mother on several occasions and worked with the Duke of Edinburgh occasionally on questions of Design. I did the Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award, was a Scout but had issues with the Scout's Promise, and more recently have worked with and have huge respect for The Prince's Trust.
Reflecting now on the end of the Post-War Era, as it has been described, for me the value of the Royal Family and Queen or King as the Head of State is as a non-political, non-elected moral core and standard for the country. That point of reference for what is British, who represents us irrespective of the vagaries of popular votes and ever more self-serving and mediocre politicians is an important one. France doesn't put Presidents on coins or stamps, rather Mariane, an idealised woman and spirit of all that is best in France. The USA does a similar thing, but with an Eagle and dead Presidents, who may not be as above reproach as history is rewritten from a 21st century perspective.
With the passing of the Queen and the New Carolingian era that is about to start, the moral compass will be reset. I expect there will be a slimmed down monarchy, but fascination with the Royal Family will not fade (indeed it is one of their purposes - filling pages of glossy magazines and fuelling book sales). My hope is that King Charles will maintain his emphasis on the importance of conserving environmental and built heritage and saving the planet, and that the leadership he has shown in that field over the past 40 years will continue during his reign. Planet Earth needs a few big hitters in her team at the moment!