Notes from outside a heatwave

The news just now is inundated with scary items and warnings about the extreme heat which is about to descend (does heat descend?) on England and to a lesser extent to the south of the Central Belt of Scotland. Instead of the old-fashioned cheery weather maps covered with full-sun symbols there are alarming maps coloured red, orange or - really scary - almost black. There are shots of naked people sprawled on sand or on grass, at the seaside or in (presumably London) parks. There is also the news that it'll all, apparently, end in tears  with thunderstorms on Wednesday. 

I have to tell the eagerly waiting world something, yet again: it ain't here yet, and it ain't going to be here. Not real, blistering, Crete in July or Ho Chi Minh City in March heat. Maybe just enough to let me have a quick dip in the sea before we head to the East again, but otherwise it's summer as usual in Argyll. It was dry, it was mild, but it was uniformly grey and from midday till teatime there was a wind that made me not want to sit out for lunch or go for a walk without a wind cheater on. 

It did turn out to be good weather for drying the washing, which I did. It was fine weather to stay indoors till lunchtime working at the computer, which I did. And it was good weather for a walk at Ardentinny, on Loch Long, which we did in the afternoon, quite late. We didn't go round the beach, for the parking area looked busier than I've ever seen it with camper vans, tents, cars - and some hapless youths who were busy erecting two wee tents among the trees behind the beach, well away from the campsite and almost hidden, in the long grass and bushes that make that bit all but impenetrable. There they will have had an evening of midges and will now probably be alive with ticks ... the mind boggles. 

We walked up the hill and I took some moody shots down the Firth from the top of the road, which I thought I might use for a blip. However, I spotted what I thought was a zebra† in the field next to the village car park and couldn't resist blipping these two chaps in their anti-fly coats. See? It's not even coats-off weather, let alone taps aff!*

* For the benefit of the uninitiated, a Scots Vernacular expression, literally "tops off." The removing of one's shirt in the event of warm weather, a phenomenon rarely seen in Glasgow.


† This zebra rug features a generous neck with three sturdy Velcro fasteners, adjustable chest fastenings and cross surcingles for individual size adjustment. The generous gusset and the smooth inner lining on the shoulder and tail area ensure optimum comfort and freedom of movement.
(Horse and Hound)