I was standing at the bus stop in town the other day watching a young lady ride a bike in the road. The snow was falling. She wore a knee length wool coat, no hat and no helmet. But she was however, carrying an umbrella. Yes, that's right an umbrella .....and it was open. She had one hand on the handle bars and the other holding the umbrella, trying to prevent the snow from landing in her face.
To do this of course she had to hold it low, but then she could not see where she was going, so the umbrella was bobbing up and down as she alternated the position of the brolly.
Standing at the bus stop with me was a teenage girl clutching a ring binder labeled 'Child Development". She was shivering. Probably didn't have a vest on. (Vest as in the English use of the word - undergarment for the torso.) Why is it that the young would rather shiver than wear adequate clothes? It is so common to see a young person shivering with no coat on. I had 2 vests, shirt, fleece jacket, warm coat, fleece gloves inside fleece mittens, two pairs of socks in warm sheepskin and leather boots and a large pashmina that I wrap around my head and neck and an umbrella stopping me getting covered in cold wet snow. I must admit that I was a little chilly but only a little. No shivering certainly.
My mind goes to the theory that we are in danger from global warming and we must take drastic action like switching off all the lights. We've certainly experienced the lowest temperatures in England this winter that I can remember ever having.
Surely there was global warming happening as the earth came out of the ice age? I'm sure there were no aeroplanes creating large carbon footprints across the sky at that time.
I'm all for reducing the amount of pollution being spewed out into the air. I re-use, recycle and compost. I cycle or use public transport but I do like visiting other countries by plane.
And it is certainly a little chilly at the moment.
