Weather woes: Why I’m not complaining about ‘breaking sods’ on the bog

Our man Frank on the soaring temperatures worldwide (while he toils on a soaked bog); A sensational sporting weekend; Local issues… and TV license musings

It’s Monday afternoon as I write. I’ve just come back from the bog, where, after a relatively short time, we gave up on the futile effort of trying to foot the turf. The almost incessant rain of the last few weeks means that everything is drowned wet; the sods were breaking as we tried to lift them, and – to cap it all off – just as we enjoyed the first fine day for a long while, the Heavens opened and back came the rain.

Funnily enough, even though the normal reaction would be to give out about all the poor weather, the truth is that we really should be grateful for all our recent summer rain, as all around the world temperatures are set to reach record highs. In parts of Europe, temperatures in the mid40s are being experienced, with Andalusia in Spain expecting to reach 44C, while in Sardinia there is a possibility that there could be a new record high of almost 49C. It’s easy to dismiss the heatwaves as just minor incon- veniences, especially for holidaymakers, but in Europe last year the number of heat-related deaths was an extraordinary 61,000 – a simply mind-blowing number. And it’s not only Europe that is suffering. Large swathes of the US are also on red heat alerts, and in Death Valley, California, they are bracing themselves for highs of around 53C. The highest temperature ever recorded was 54.4C and there is every chance that figure could be surpassed this week.

So, as the cooling, soothing rain falls down on my wet turf, I must resist the temptation to complain about it all, and be thankful that we live in a country that doesn’t suffer from any type of extreme weather conditions.

However, forgive me if I say a little prayer for some fine weather soon, so that I might have something to heat the house with when the winter comes! Though with the way climate is changing all over, who knows what type of weather we will have next winter – we may get warm winter sunshine and I might not need the fire at all!

Anyway, let us appreciate our very pleasant Irish climate, and as the world suffers from the effects of too much heat, a small thing like not being able to foot my turf is a small price to pay for being able to have a normal, if very wet, month of July.