In
my garden there are blue delphiniums. There are fresh batches of roses, white,
pink and a gorgeous variegated red and white two-for-the-price-of-one rose. Their
blooms enhance the tiny garden and their petals shower the dark earth beneath
and drift across the newly-mown grass. The vivid pink penstemmon are in full
flower, their rows of brightly coloured bell-shaped flowers standing erect on
tall stems in the sunshine. To one side of them, profuse multi-coloured
sweet-peas climb up the shed; to the other the dahlias are in full bloom. The
poppies continue to surprise us with their multi-coloured blooms; we are never
quite sure which colour or variety will pop up next as they never stay where
you plant them.
Nothing
too strange in this. Just another ordinary, but picturesque cottage garden. But
today is the 7th October. In the country lanes
the blackberries are almost over; hawthorn berries and rosehips adorn the
hedges in bright profusion. Summer and autumn run side by side in my garden and
it is hard to tell the difference.
Earlier
in the year we saw a similar phenomenon. Spring came so late and the bitter
winter cold lingered on into June until we wondered if summer would ever come.
Spring flowers were late. Daffodils, when they eventually came, dallied in our
gardens until the summer roses had caught them up and bloomed side by side with
the spring flowers. In June I battled with bitter, icy winds, wearing my winter
coat, scarf, hat and gloves and complaining just as bitterly. Now in October my
summer wardrobe has been given a reprieve and I can stroll along country lanes
in summer dress and sandals. The seasons have slipped. The world is tilted on
its axis.
How
does this make me feel - as my counsellor might phrase the question? Should I
be happy? Should I be distressed? Should I be alarmed? Is the climate of our
world out of control or is this just a 'blip', a tiny, unexplained hiccup in
the world's steady onward march, according to prescribed patterns and default
settings?
The
truth is that none of us know. The subject is ripe for discussion around dinner
tables and at politicians' summits, scientific forums and academic
battlegrounds. But none of us really know. We have not lived long enough. Are
we heading for another Ice Age? Are we heading for meltdown? Will the polar ice
caps re-freeze when someone turns the power back on or are we on a long-term,
irreversible defrost programme?
At
a recent family occasion we shared the celebrations of a member of the family
who has just turned 100! One hundred years old! Who can imagine that? In former
years, the phenomenon was unthinkable, although in Biblical times we understand
that the patriarchs achieved unbelievable scores of seven hundred plus years!
Perhaps it's a good thing that in those days pensions had not been invented.
Still Auntie Mabel is to be congratulated on her achievement. No-one else in
her family has achieved such a thing. Imagine living for that long! Imagine
having lived through both the first and second world wars! Imagine dating from
the time of the earliest motor cars and before anyone had dared to dream of even
the possibility of walking on the moon!
But these spectacular achievements are
by no means so rare as once they were. Perhaps Auntie Mabel and the growing
number of centegenarians like her might be able to pass judgement on the
climate question at least with a few more years of experience than the rest of
us. It's an interesting thought. Perhaps at the next G8 summit a selection of
them should be invited to submit their views and share their accumulated wisdom
on such tricksy questions that have the rest of us defeated.
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