Welcoming a Gray and Wet Morning!
 

This morning the sky was covered with clouds in various grades of grey, Sun was nowhere to be seen, the air felt cold and wet. This made me happy not only me but most of the people in Britain felt so. This joyous welcome of a grey, wet, and cold morning is completely different to what usually happens here. This sort of weather is tolerated but never gets a happy reception.

 Stonehenge in Wiltshire is one of many green, grassy landscapes dried out by the extreme hot weather this summer. Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters, 1

But this year almost all the previous records for high temperature were broken and there was no rain for weeks on end. People celebrated and enjoyed the sunny and warm weather for a few weeks and then it felt like a curse. The usual abundant greenery turned yellow, and brown, parks and woods lost a lot of plants, many wildfires erupted in various parts of the country. The railway tracks and roads deteriorated due to ferocious Sun causing chaos for travellers and hauliers. A few people died due to direct effects of the hot weather.

This was a real taste of global warming felt by everyone in this country. Of course, the scientists and environmentalists have been warning about it for more than two decades. The main reason for this warming seems to be consumption of fossil fuels for our ever-increasing energy needs. The tragedy is no country wants to reduce their energy consumption and reduce their economic growth which in turn reduces   living standard and increases political instability.

So, the only way the countries can help to reduce the global warming rate is by significantly increasing renewable energy production to reduce and replace the need for fossil fuels. The problem is that the transition needs a lot of investment in research, development, and implementation. Whereas there is no such extra cost in using the fossil fuel. So only relatively rich countries can afford to do this at any meaningful rate.

The richest and most powerful country, USA, which should have taken the lead has a President who summarily dismisses any suggestions of global warming and looming environmental disaster. He does not see any need for reducing carbon footprint and his policies are discouraging and unfavourable to other countries which actively wish to cut their fossil fuel consumption.

It leaves all the effort on conscientious individuals and various NGOs. Realistically they can make but only small impact on global scene.

 I have reduced my driving to a bare minimum and am trying to take public transport as much as possible. We also have cutdown our electricity and gas wastage significantly though the recent steep rise in energy cost has more to do with that!

But hey, a little is much better than nothing.

 

¹ https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/aug/02/july-set-to-be-driest-on-record-for-england-and-wales-after-relentless-heatwaves#img-5

 

 

just thinking aloud: A SCORPION IN MY TRAINER

just thinking aloud: A SCORPION IN MY TRAINER:   A SCORPION IN MY TRAINER This ferocious looking black beetle jumped out of my garden shoes this morning. We were on a short trip to Dubl...

A SCORPION IN MY TRAINER

 

A SCORPION IN MY TRAINER

This ferocious looking black beetle jumped out of my garden shoes this morning.

We were on a short trip to Dublin for a few days to mark our anniversary. We came back last night. While we were away it has been sunny and hot here. I was a bit worried about young plants in our garden. The first thing in the morning I did, is to go in the garden, many of the plants were on the verge of wilting, the soil underneath was very dry.

I pulled out the hosepipe to give them a good soak. I did not want to get my feet wet this early in the morning, so I pulled my garden shoes, in fact it is just an old pair of trainers.

I was about to put on them when I saw a dry leaf that has fallen inside the left one. To take it out I tapped the shoe upside down hard on the floor. The leaf fell out and this beetle followed. The unusually large size (for a beetle in UK) and a scorpion like upturned tail, gave me a start. I got the phone from the gown pocket and took a snap before it could scuttle away. I did not want to commit a murder before knowing whether it was harmful to me or the garden. Well, if it were some other time in the day and it was not such a peaceful morning with mild breeze and birds chirping, my immediate reflex, particularly when I was still holding the trainer, would have been to splatter it on the garden tile.

I continued watering the plants and later after the breakfast looked online to find
out a bit about this lucky beetle. To my surprise the first thing stood out was the name “Devil’s coach horse beetle.” Frightening isn’t it. But names could be deceiving as is in the case here. Despite looking so fierce and like a small scorpion, it has no sting, The posture is to threaten any rival or predator. Rarely if provoked or handled may bite causing minor discomfort. In similar situations it may squirt a foul-smelling but not harmful liquid. This beetle is extremely useful in keeping garden pests in check.

 its scientific name is “Ocypus olens,” olens in Latin means smelling. If you call it by its proper name, it does not feel dangerous!

The appearance which successfully saves it from eaten alive in nature, also gets it easily killed by us, humans. This was one lucky beetle, and this beetle reminded me again not to judge a person or an object by its appearance.

IN THE LAND OF PHARAOHS

IN THE LAND OF PHARAOHS

        Since early childhood when we were told in the Primary School about the seven wonders of ancient world, I wanted to see them. In high school, I learned that only one of the wonders remains intact, the Great Pyramid; the others are either missing or exist only as ruins.

The dream laid dormant till I became a doctor and had enough disposable money but by that time due to other responsibilities, other holiday destinations and the political situation in Egypt, I kept postponing the visit to the Great Pyramid.

This year Bibha, my wife got the brochures on classical Egypt tours and booked a guided tour as a new year gift to me.  Our trip was booked to start on 10^th of March.

We were eagerly looking forward to this trip, reading the travel guides, checking the weather in Egypt and discussing what clothes to take there. Everything was going smoothly and as planned. And then….

Mr Trump and Mr Netanyahu started  a war against Iran 12 days before we were due to fly. Soon the whole of middle east was engulfed.

Up to the last day we nervously kept on checking the U.K. Government Foreign Travel Advice page and avidly watching all the news and relevant social media channels. Fortunately, Egypt remained quiet, no missiles or drones transgressed its skies, and no immediate threats reported. We reached our hotel in Cairo in the midnight on 10^th as planned.

 In the morning we were greeted by a nice sunny warm day and a cheerful local guide, Mohammad, who remained with our group of eighteen, throughout the whole trip.

Very first morning we went to see the Great Pyramid, situated in the Giza plateau at the edge of Sahara Desert. I was so excited. Many a times a much-vaunted iconic tourist place fails to rise to the expectations, nothing like that here!

The Great Pyramid made for Khufu, 2^nd Pharaoh of fourth dynasty was as majestic and commanding as I had imagined since childhood. The perfect geometric proportions of this ancient monument at this grand scale lets you awe-stricken. The pyramid is 146 metres tall and each side at the base is 230 metres. I touched a stone at the base and imagined it being carved by a stonemason 5000 yrs ago!

There are two more huge pyramids in the vicinity, one made by son of Khufu, the 3^rd Pharaoh Khafre and the other by his grandson Pharaoh Menkaure. There are many smaller ones for their queens and important nobles.

The massive, Sphinx which have the body of a lion and a human head (said to be of pharaoh Khafre) is nearby.  After the great pyramids, this is the next most magnificent structure here. You cannot but admire those ancient architects, sculptures and engineers. 

One wonders how these people 5000 yrs ago built such massive structure.  Next day this mystery was solved.

Early morning next day, our guide took us to much older burial monuments in Saqqara and Dahshur areas of Cairo. There he showed us the Stepped Pyramid, and with a great flourish said that this pyramid holds the key to the mystery of The Great Pyramid. 

The Stepped Pyramid was built about 200 years before the grand pyramid. It was
the burial ground of Pharaoh Djoser the founder of the Third Dynasty, it was designed by his chief architect, Imhotep. It is made of six rectangular platforms of diminishing size, creating steps and reaching up to 60 metres. Each rectangle had evolved from earlier tombs (mastaba)which were made in the shape of rectangular mudbrick boxes with a flat roof and were only a metre or two high.

We saw another pyramid in Dahshur, Bent Pyramid. This was built after the stepped pyramid in a bid to create a smooth sided pyramid. It appears bent because the architect had to decrease the angle half-way for stability. This was built by pharaoh Sneferu father of Khufu. Its height is 104 metre.

From the experiences gained from these pyramids; architects were able to design and create the perfectly smooth surfaced Great pyramid for Khufu!

The Pyramids were not built by aliens or magic but by the unsatiable ambition and inquisitiveness of human beings. Their ability to learn from both, the successes and failures of past and their determination to persevere to reach their goals.

After 3 days exploring Cairo, we flew to Aswan for our Nile cruise for exploring the rest of the wonders of Classical Egypt along its banks.