The only problem with this is that I try very hard to avoid the news! We do not get a newspaper and I do not watch it on the TV if I can help it. I see snippets whist I am on the Internet.
International.
Not sure if Scotland counts as International? They are independent of us and you do cross a border to enter Scotland albeit just a sign on the road side. (No men in kilts playing bagpipes)!
Anyway, this is the story that I first heard this morning and it is all over our news. Yet another river has burst its banks causing terrible destruction and misery. This time it is the river Don in Aberdeenshire which broke its banks overnight. Many residents had to be evacuated from their homes.
I can only try to imagine what it must be like to be in this situation. It must be very scary to watch as the water gets higher and higher and finally enters your home. The damage and mess left behind once the water recedes is devastating.
We seem to be seeing these scenes more and more here in the UK. It seems that it is getting wetter here. We could debate all day on why that maybe. Global warming? Who really knows? It is a solution that everyone is more interested in. Well we can't stop it raining, if only! So we have to do something to stop the flooding. There is much talk about our flood defences and river dredging and the like. I don't know too much about it. What I do know is permission is still regularly granted for new homes to be built on flood plain land and that can't help can it?
Fortunately for me, although we live in the Fens, most of which is at or below sea level; our house is slightly uphill so it would be very unlikely to flood. That said if there was to be a massive tidal surge on the coast....... In fact Lincolnshire County Council has recently spent a ton of money erecting escape route signs!
It was quite funny actually as they erected all the signs before telling people what they mean so much guessing was going on! This is the sign. They are designed to lead people away from the lower coastal towns to the higher ground of the Lincolnshire Wolds. Spalding which is about 15 miles from us is at particular risk of tidal flooding. It is inland but the river runs out to the Sea on the East coast.
Local.
There doesn't seem to be anything happening in my village this week or even in the nearby town of Bourne. There is an interesting story for Stamford though. (Stamford is about 15 miles away so at least the Merikans will think it is local)! They are reviving the ancient tradition of Wassailing. This originated in the British cider making districts and traditionally took place on the 17th of January (the old 12th night). The purpose of wassailing is to awaken the apple trees and by scaring away the evil spirits, encourage the tress to fruit well in the coming year. Stamford is holding a Wassail this Saturday at the community orchard. Perhaps I should do the same here to see if I can encourage my one apple tree!
Sport.
I have no interest in sport at all so any news simply won't be on my radar. I shall scrap this category next week if I do Friday News again. For today my sport news is...... drum roll please..... Fitbit have a new fitness tracker coming out! The Fitness Blaze is due for release in March and I want one! I currently have a Fitbit Charge which is brilliant and it has got me moving. The Fitbit Blaze has a colour screen and measures exercise too. Plus it comes in purple and you can make the screen pink!!! Need I say more?
Entertainment.
The BBC "The Voice" programme starts again this Saturday. I know this because there are constant trailers for it on the BBC. I have never watched this as I am not really into these talent show things. If you don't know "The Voice", it has a slightly different format to begin with as the judges can't see the contestants so they base their decision on the voice alone and not on appearances. That has to be a good thing? Remember the Susan Boyle story? That was Britain's Got Talent. All 4 judges and the audience were discarding her the minute she walked on to the stage.......until she opened her mouth. Simon Cowell's shock was visible. Trouble is with these sort of programmes is they seem to offer nothing more than a few minutes of fame. Very few of the contestants or even winners go on to be stars.
Miscellaneous.
Apparently our government have had a review on alcohol consumption and are about to revise the guidelines on safe drinking limits. They are basically saying that there is NO safe limit and that you should always have 2 alcohol free days a week and no more than 1 unit for women and 3 for men. So, what happened to the claim that red wine is good for you? HMMM.
There 5 bits of news. If I do this next week, I am going to scrap sport. I shall have International, UK, Local, entertainment and Misc.
Friday news was the idea of my cousin Wendy. Why not join in. It would be very interesting to read what is going on in your area and maybe we could open discussions on some of the topics. I would love to know what you think is the cause of the change in our weather. Now if only I could get blogger to let me comment. Stupid thing.
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