Taken from Lynne’s weekly column ‘Green Scene’ for the Western Mail
10th December 2022
Winter Weather
Despite doing it for nearly 40 years, it simply doesn’t get any easier working outdoors at this time of year. The last few days have been ‘cold beyond’.
I recall reading a report that claimed the average Briton spends the equivalent of almost five days a year complaining about the weather. It stated that ‘climate-obsessed Brits check the forecast an average of eight times a week and in the same time period we spend about 120 minutes complaining about our unpredictable weather — that’s almost five full days each year or 10 months over the course of an average life.’
Trust me, if you are a gardener or work outdoors, it’s going to be far more than that. Iremember talking to Eden Project Creator, Tim Schmidt about his Cornish gardens and him admitting, “Until I spent time working outdoors, I thought the weather forecast was just something tacked onto the end of the news. I had no idea of its importance.”
Whilst it is common for dull weather and short daylight hours to dampen your mood, Seasonal Affective Disorder (or SAD) is diagnosed when the winter weather affects your mood so much that you feel depressed. Also known as ‘winter depression’, it is thought to affect around 2 million people in the UK.
Getting regular exercise has been proven to help boost mood and reduce symptoms associated with winter-weather related depression, so although a bit more challenging, it’s more important than ever during the winter months to make time for exercise.
www.mind.org.uk have some other helpful self-care tips, just type in SAD to their search bar.
Veg Out at Christmas
Apart from most of us tightening our ‘money belts’ this Christmas, one of the main supermarket’s annual Christmas report predicts a few changes in our shopping baskets too.
Apparently, Brussels sprouts are enjoying a revival amongst younger people, with the number of 18- to 24-year-olds who claim to ‘love’ them rising from 26% to 44% since last Christmas.
Sprouts are indeed a lot sweeter now than when I was a kid, as they have been ‘bred’ that way to appeal to more people. And recent frosts will have made them even sweeter as the plants react to cold temperatures by breaking down starches in the cells into sugars to act like a natural antifreeze. Best to focus on ‘sweet’ rather than ‘antifreeze’ in that last sentence.
The bad news is that Brussels sprouts may be in short supply as high winds and water-logged fields have restricted harvesting. Whether you love them or hate them, the ‘baby cabbages’ are extremely good for us as, weight for weight, they contain 3 times as much vitamin C as oranges. The British Sprout Grower’s Association are also quick to remind us that ‘A sprout isn’t just for Christmas, they are for Life.’
Another festive food bouncing back into favour is the Christmas pudding. Younger people are ‘discovering’ the traditional festive pudding, with the number of 18- to 24-year-olds who are looking forward to it this year more than doubling from 8% to 17% in 12 months.
And an alcohol-free Christmas is also increasing in popularity, with the number of UK adults not drinking this festive period rising by 3% to 18% this year.
Love Your Left-overs
I’ve been delighted to still be harvesting spinach and giant red mustard leaves from my own garden – especially as they self seeded and are like ‘left-overs’ in the veggie patch. The mustard leaves are not quite so giant as the main crop were but they just as spicy and tasty and great in a stir-fry or sandwich.
Talking in work last week about food in general – as is often the case – conversation turned to leftovers and using them in sandwiches for work. My brother actually had boiled potato sandwiches, and when I mentioned ‘double carbing’, he replied, ‘It’s only the same as a chip butty or crisp sandwich.’ To which one of the other lads who often has leftover-curry in his sandwiches pointed out that his savvy-sandwiches weren’t too dissimilar to Coronation Chicken. I was reminded about all this when I had the last of my veggie lasagne last night – not quite enough for a meal, I had it on toast, which of course, is only the same as having it with garlic bread.
As my nan used to say about some of her creative left-over concoctions, “It all goes down the same way.”
White Christmas?
The last widespread ‘White Christmas’ we had in the UK was back in 2010, with snow or sleet seen at 83% of the recording stations. The Met Office defines a White Christmas by one snowflake falling in the 24 hours of Christmas Day, and whilst they traditionally used their building in London to decide the ‘colour’ of Christmas, as betting increased several other locations were added to the list and now include Buckingham Palace, Belfast (Aldergrove Airport), Aberdeen (Pittodrie Stadium), Edinburgh Castle, Coronation Street in Manchester and The Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.
Ladbrokes have currently put their odds of snow to fall anywhere in the UK on December 25 at 6/4 and in Cardiff at 5/1. Their latest long-range forecast for December 13 – 27 currently says: ‘Confidence remains low for this period. More settled conditions are expected, with the potential for higher pressure over the UK, leading to drier weather. Whilst temperatures may average out close to normal overall, colder conditions are possible at times, with a risk of overnight frost and fog higher than normal.’
And Coral have slashed the odds of seeing snow on Christmas Day this year. After a cold snap hit us this week, they think the chances of snow falling in a few weeks seems to be getting more and more likely.
Road Safety
As the temperatures have dropped sharply this week, motoring experts have warned drivers that gloves could hamper their grip on the steering wheel and winter coats, hats and scarves could restrict their visibility – putting them at risk of a £5,000 fine.
Rule 97 of the Highway Code states drivers must have ‘footwear and clothing which does not prevent you using the controls in the correct manner’, making it an offence if breached.
And the UK’s leading rural insurer, the NFU, is also campaigning to make rural roads a safer shared space for everyone through their Rural Road Safety campaign.
Teaming up with The British Horse Society, British Cycling and THINK! – the UK Government’s Road Safety campaign – they are trying to reduce the risks for all rural road users.
You can take a virtual road journey through the countryside to see how good you are at sharing the road with other road users, and at spotting potential hazards at www.nfumutual.co.uk/campaigns/rural-road-safety and also get fact sheets packed with guidance and information for cyclists, horse riders, runners, walkers and motorists.
Very informative as usual.
I liked the bit about potato sandwiches. If there’s any left over mashed potato, I often have it on toast with cheese melted on top. I even have cheese and mashed potato sandwiches, with a little salad cream. It uses up the leftovers and bulks up the meal. Lovely!
Your comments about shared road space are particularly relevant at this time of year as dead leaves, mud, frost and ice make stopping distances up to ten times longer than on dry roads. It’s a matter of common sense when driving on rural roads and lanes that you are likely to get held up by cows being herded, or horse riders. The biggest bug for us here on the levels in Somerset are cyclists. They ride oblivious of anyone else, more interested in racing and beating personal best times. Most have no regard for their own or others’ safety.
There, that’s me on my soap box!
Try to stay as warm as you can. Remember a little antifreeze (wine), helps an awful lot when you’re sat in front of your wood burner with Yogi! xx