Yesterday was a case of negotiating and managing what may prove to the hottest day of the current heat wave and it was a day in which, again, a record was made of the hottest-ever June day of 36.7° recorded at Merryfield in Somerset. I had a sort of plan in place to cope with yesterday because my American friend called around and we took ‘care’ of each other by having copious supply of cold cordial and seeking out the coolest places in the house. We made a salad lunch together and then ended the afternoon after which the temperature had just lowered a tad which meant that we could enjoy a bit of our evening supper ‘al fresco’ as it were. I am always quite well supplied with fruit so we made a whole fruit salad to share between us complemented with just a little dollop of ice cream and some plain Greek yogurt. This was most welcome and after the patio as been cleaned up and given its daily brush, made for a very pleasant environment. After supper was consumed and the dishes washed up, we settled down to watch the Germany vs. Ecuador match in the World Cup and this turned out to be one of the most exciting and memorable matches in the whole competition. There was none of the ‘slow and patient’ build-up that we have grown used to expecting from England performances but instead, both teams adopted a frontal attacking approach. Germany scored first but the Ecuadorians equalised soon afterwards and from that point on it became a really thrilling match to watch with the eventual winner always in doubt. The Ecuadorians scored a deserved winning goal in the 77th minute and this meant an exceptionally tense last quarter of an hour whilst the Ecuadorians defended with all of their might. The emotional outbursts over this historic victory over the defeat of one of the tournament favourites was a sight to behold with may of the Ecuadorian team in tears of joy and relief, as they now progress towards the last 32 of the World Cup, incidentally, almost certainly putting aid to Scotlands very slim chances of qualifying as a best placed third team. Meanwhile, we have been appalled by the shocking earthquake in Venezuela in which one quake was followed by another less a minute later. As the movement of the tectonic plates was at quite a shallow level then the level of destruction has proved to be enormous, with 235 deaths reported and a figure of 4,300 missing or injured. Apparently the last time there was an earthquake of tis magnitude in Venezuela was in 1967 but I do not really remember it, working as I was in a cardboard box factory during summer whilst Meg worked next door in the McVities biscuit factory. Of course those summer vacation factory jobs have disappeared but the experience of working in factories taught Meg and I quite a a lot at the time. The evening before last threatened to be a hot and sticky one in which sleep was always threatened. However, with the windows open and the assistance of a small fan, I managed to get to sleep quickly after going to bed. I was desperately hoping that some thunderstorms might develop in the later stages of the night, but it was not to be and the chance of rain, according to me weather app is zero today and with a 35% chance tomorrow. I intend to make at little peregrination along the High Street to have a coffee in the ‘Gifts of Love’ charity outlet where I am always guaranteed a warm welcome and I may do little bits of shopping afterwards. This I did but I must say that the High Street seemed pretty deserted as I walked along it and the temperature was probably not discernibly lower than yesterdays. So the assistant/volunteer who I know well made an iced coffee for me ad we chatted for half an hour before I went on my way to do some shopping. When I got home, I propped the front day open to allow the breeze to permeate the hall then prepared for myself a prawn omelette with a few salad type accompaniments and this was fine on another roasting hot day.
My American friend phoned me and we agreed to have a rendez-vous in the park with the multiple purposes of cooling down a little, having a breath of fresh air and catching up on the days news. June’s temperature record has been broken for a third time today, with the mercury hitting 37.1C at Cavendish in Suffolk. There is just a hint that as the day progresses, we might even have a new record later on in the day. The red danger zone issued by the Metrological service has now receded a little from the Midlands. Meanwhile, rai authorities in the South of England are discouraging travellers from making a journey the coast as the railway network cannot cope with these extremely high temperatures. Overhead power lines sag and the rails themselves absorb heat increasing the chance of buckling. Railway tracks reach temperatures much higher than the surrounding air due to a combination of solar radiation, thermal absorption, and insulation. When the air temperature is 30°C, steel rails in direct sunlight routinely climb to 50°C or higher because they act as highly efficient heat traps. They are used to this in continental Europe but it no surprise that we engineer things to a lower standard. The football this evening is going to be France vs. Norway and I would fully expect the French (and Mbappe in particular) to prevail but unpredictable things can happen in a World Cup. Tomorrow the England team are due to meet Panama and I would not be surprised to see another disappointing and complacent England performance. Even teams from lower-ranked nations (in footballing terms) have to go through qualification matches and it is often forgotten that the players from some of the lesser-ranked nations are fit young men who might be able to make up in speed and endurance what they may lack in technical skill. The next stage of the competition when there are 32 teams left in become straight knock-out football as the 32 becomes 16, 8, 4 and then 2 in the final. At this stage, many games will end in a penalty shoot-out as well, a skill in which England frequently succumb to the Germans, for example.