sun and rain

london 3.30pm 12C rain thursday 2020

this was how the sky looked earlier in the morning. the tree surgeons have come and gone, and it looked like they are done for this year at least… trimming some trees but leaving others untrimmed. i wonder how they chose which ones to trim and which to leave alone. they wont be back for another 2 years i think.

earlier, i was out and about, and the sky was so blue. now i have come back home and it is raining. and quite heavily too. it is quite common to have this swift change in the weather, so that one must grab the good weather when it comes and not expect it to continue. it makes you expect that things dont last, and depanding on how you look at it, you can say it is a good thing, because it applies to bad things too, it too will pass.

or you could lament and ask why cant good things last. if u live in the tropical countries, you will realise that good weather lasting a long time is not that great. after all just look at australia now, all that hot sun, and what do u get? bush fires that last for ever it seems.what they wouldn’t give for a lot of rain right now.

it makes me see this rain we are having as a lovely sight and refreshing. 

raining all day in london

london 2.36pm 18C cloudy/rain tuesday 2019

its raining very nicely outside, and very nice it is too. no thunder though, even though it was forecast. i could see in the weather website that other parts of london are experiencing very heavy rain, the colour code it and some parts are green, yellow, and even purple (in romford now, with the gauge shooting off the chart at over 30mm/hr. must be quite a lot of rain, though not much wind. i like it even though they are all give dire warnings and used words like ‘danger to life flood warning’, which is overly pessimistic i think. it cleans the air, which i think those people in indonesia and malaysia would welcome it. it gave a red haze in indonesia, it was that bad the haze that they are experiencing now.  

added.00.34am 25.9.19 wednesday here are some nice pictures of the flooding/. i see the neighbourhood cat sitting on the courtyard, staring down into the grid where the water drains into, and i wonder if it is thirsty, so i cut out a squash bottle and fill it with water and took it to the cat. it did not drink it, but i left the container by the wall, in case it gets thirsty later. i know dogs drink water, but i have never seen a cat drink water. they like milk that i know, and would drink it, but i dont have milk. 

rain in london

london 1.15pm 14.6C rain wednesday 2019

it seems the forecast that it will be raining all day will be correct. it does not deter me of course from going out, though it will make me more inclined to go to places where i can be indoors. like the library or the sports centre, which i will be going to later today as it is my circuit training class today. also i go there by bus, so dont have to stay out in the rain for any length of time. not that rain hurts anyone. and with an umbrella you dont even get wet that much really. the rain here, even if heavy is seldom the kind of thunderstorm rain you get in the tropics. in fact i still go round in shorts. even in this rain. 

added 11.48pm i saw this earlier in the day, the 100 largest islands in the world. indonesia got 3 4 of them, two of them larger than the mainland uk. now that i see it , it is really surprising to me that indonesia got so much land area. 

glorious rain, and shopping

london 9.45pm 13C dry night thursday 2019

it may be dry now, but it had been raining practically all day. its fortunate that rain dont seem to affect me. maybe because i am rather pleased that rain means no pollen in the air, and that means no hay fever. haha. and that means no itchy eyes, runny nose, ticklish throat. (rubbing my hands with glee). that surely must make anyone happy like anything.

so i have been going out and about, today, unlike if it was a sunny hot day, when i would instantly regret it, going outdoors, because of the instant discomfort of hay fever. i forgot to mention all that sneezing as well.

i went shopping , first to brixton to buy garlic, because i got a garlic press and i am eager to use it. whilst there i got ginger and some more chilli as well. then i took the bus 35 to clapham junction to the lidl there.

there are, i later found out, two lidl stores near brixton, but i thought the large store in clapham junction would have porridge oats. or rather would have them in store, rather than in the stockwell branch which i discovered had run out of stock.

its been some time since i went to the lidl in clapham junction, and so i was surprised when i got in, to find they have completely refurbish the store, changed the shelves , so that everything is different. it was so different from what i remember it, that i clean forgot the coffee. 

but the biggest change i noticed is the checkout. the self service tills are  card only, none will take cash; and so forced us cash buyers to queue up at the manned tills, and i noticed the chap at the till is now going slow and making conversation with the old customers. and waiting patiently whilst they fumble with the money, and slowly pack their goods. all the time exchanging pleasantries…whilst we in the long queue have to be patient.

sigh, i hear they have complaints about them being so fast, the old customers felt rushed trying to keep up. and so now we see the result of those complaints, they are now going slow. what a bother really. i decided to write  them on their website, when i got back telling them i prefer them to go fast, and to bring back the cash  to the self service tills.

i wonder  maybe no one praised them for going fast as no one will bother to write in and tell them, so they get complaints by a few old people and they think everyone felt that way. so i wrote to them and said why not tell these old people who feel rushed to follow the age old way of doing things … where you put all your shopping back in the trolley and pay up and take the trolley to the counters set up in the front of the store where you can take your time packing and counting the change and checking the prices. and this ensures that the line goes fast and  others can get served quickly. 

thoughts on a warm day

london 5.36am 18C sunny but clouds, thursday 2018

yesterday i was hoping for rain, because it was forecast, but it never did get any and i was hanging out in chelsea,(for my circuit training) and westminster. it was cooler, and cloudy but no rain. this morning i see an article that says wimbledon tennis was interrupted by rain. it never ceased to amaze me that the rain in london is so selective. i would have welcomed rain yesterday, but then that is life, when u want rain it never comes, and it will fall on areas where it is not welcomed. nevertheless, yesterday was very pleasant because it was cooler.

also, in the same article, they were talking of flying ants. none of that where i live so i am not aware of this invasion.  so it looks like that is selective invasion happening again in london.

i think they are termites, because they go through a life cycle where they fly to mate. in malaysia we get to see it, they pair up and fall to the ground, where they shed their wings and the pair would scuttle off into the undergrowth, or across the living room floor, to wherever they go to enjoy married bliss. haha. and produce lots of babies. during that time, we will get to walk about with flying insects getting into our eyes, and then seeing their wings littering the ground. they dont bite, thank goodness. but it is interesting that a tropical phenomenon like flying ants, should come to london.

and i have heard of people saying they have mosquitos biting them. how odd, dont you think? to see mosquitos in london. i know it happens, because i saw mosquito larvae breeding in stagnant water in a garden in tooting broadway, in the garden of a house where a charity used to cook food for HIV people.  i was one of those who distributes the food to them. that system of bringing food to them in their homes has been replaced by another system, where they have to go to a place to eat communally with others, and so at a stroke they got rid of volunteers like us as we are not needed anymore. it was not efficient, using a lot of cars to drive to everyone’s home to give them one meal each time. so it was not surprising that they changed their method of operation.

i can still remember that time when i saw the mosquito larvae rising up to breathe  and falling back into the depths , and wondering why i did not turn the containers upside down and get rid of the water trapped in them, and their larvae. i never thought of that. at that time, all i could think of was wishing i got oil to spread over the surface, like they do in malaysia , with kerosene.

i wonder if that practise is still used nowadays… you have a man with a kerosene tank on his back and he would operate a pump to spray it on vegetation and any place where stagnant water can collect. most especially on the bananas trees.  these men were quite a common sight when i was growing up.

i like it raining in london.

london 5.02pm 15C rain wednesday 2017

they forecast today will rain a lot, like a whole month’s rain in one day and they were right. haha. it has been practically raining the whole day. but i dont mind. i know there are a lot of people lamenting that summer is over, and where has summer gone? but it is not really that bad. even the temperature is not cold, i was able to walk about and go to the gym in my shorts, and a lightweight gym top. and it is only for one day, the rest of the week it will be dry. 

last week it was raining too when i went to the circuit training, but this time there are 4 of us. and i think our trainer made it a bit easier for us, 10 exercises instead of 12 like last time, and simpler exercises too. so this time i was able to complete both the sets without feeling faint. also i remembered to take it easier, do the exercises slower and taking deep breaths all the time. it was a very nice feeling being able to stretch and work out the muscles and i noticed i like the ones that stretched the back and strengthen the arms. i find i could do them very easily. and there were a lot of exercises for the stomach muscles which is great as it would get rid of my tummy . so all in all, i am very pleased at how it went.

and i shall go swimming at my local sports centre as well. and get back into the exercising thing and get back into shape again. sigh, i realise gyms are necessary. theoretically we can all exercise at home, no need to go to a gym at all, but it is one thing to say so another to do it. i could do all those exercises at home but it just means i never do them. lazy or what.

 

 

raining, lovely

london 7.02pm 16C rain monday 2017

it’s lovely that it is raining. it removes the pollen from the air and makes me feel non sneezy, which is a real pleasure i can tell you. my friend john who is in poole, wrote me asking if london is rainy, and hoping it wont affect his visit to london this thursday. i wrote back saying i am enjoying this rainy weather and hope long may it continue. haha. it goes to show not everyone likes hot sunny days. we hay fever sufferers love it when it rains. and so i see the forecast is for more rain, and that makes me glad. 

rain , smile, wood

london 8.12am rain 16.8C friday 2016

heavy rain was predicted for early this morning. and i woke to see rain hitting the road outside my bedroom window when i opened the curtains. my first thought was ‘oh good, cooler weather now’. but it seems so much rain has fallen in such a short time that it has caused problems. but of course it is inevitable that there will be disruption, seeing half a months rain being dumped in about 3hrs. well, take it all in with a smile, i say. 

 

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called the smile, at the chelsea school of arts, near the tate britain. its to showcase what u can do with wood. they have a cafe which is open to the public and have very reasonably priced food. here is more info from dezeen about it.

rain and flowers and… chickens

london 7.38am 14.1C cloudy thursday 2016

the rain is causing the flowers to bloom and burst out. rather nice.

this morning i got this from my wordpress reader. it is about bill gates giving chickens to women in africa so that they can make some money. 

i imagine it is easy to rear chickens. when i was a child, we used to visit my maternal grandmother, she lives in kajang, my home town, and we would pile into the car and drive from petaling jaya where we live to go to her about once a month.and she would always cook a chicken for us from her flock. it is always an old boiler, who has finished her egg laying life… its a tough old bird but very flavourfull.i always associate the smell and taste of it to my granny now.  they run wild , scratching the ground, and freely wander about the place feeding themselves eating whatever they find. i used to wonder how she knows which ones are hers…i guess when she feeds them daily they come running though how tempting to catch  a stray stranger bird who is visiting…  she lived amongst a big household and she have a huge mangkak tree… which produces the best fruit ever… mangkak is the hakka name for jackfruit.

so giving chickens to families seem like a good idea.

without realising it, after reading it, i found i have fulfilled his three requirements to gain points that will donate chickens to them. so i signed up. it would be nice to see a family that got the chickens and see how they get along with it. haha. i wonder if he will post something about that in future. 

added. found this link about the chickens in africa. this one says they are introducing a species from india that is better than the local breeds. lets hope the introduced species can look after itself rather than have to rely on being mollycoddled with special feeds and all.haha. certainly i noticed my grandmother’s flock are scrawny things. haha. very unlike the plump birds i see in london’s supermarkets. but then, the plumb birds are hopeless in foraging for themselves. 

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all this rain is making the flowers burst out

added. 1.20pm sunny 19.5C today is forecast to be dry, the only dry day in the forecasting chart. it is really very pleasant today. blue sky and all that. 

added.13.6.16 more lilies

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hooray, more rain forecast.

london wednesday 2016 17.6C rain earlier, now gone and brightening.

seems there was a huge downpour yesterday causing flooding in some areas. 

added. 10.6.16. one of the pictures in that link showed a guy who drove into the flood water and sank, and you might have wondered as i have done why did he do it… but this clip shows he was just being impatient and overtook all the other cars who were not going in,  he paid for his impatience, the silly git.

over where i am it  happened in a short time, and i missed seeing it. though simon said it was real fierce when it happened. it was over quite quickly where i am.

there was no sound in my flat , of wind or rain hitting the ground, to alert me to it. it really is a cocoon of calm inside the flat… unlike in malaysia when there is a thunderstorm, no one can sleep through it. lightning and thunder and the furious beat on rain on the zinc roof will wake anyone up. but here all is calm. 

now the forecast is more rain. so that is good, i am thinking. rubbing my hands with glee. no hay fever , hooray.

 

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mews houses. it means that those big houses u see fronting the streets dont have gardens. it being taken over by these mews houses. used to be garages i think with accommodation above for the staff.