Relief and Climate Change

T has just had a review with the surgeon. It’s six weeks since her op, and she’s recovered well. He examined her thoroughly and asked a series of questions about her symptoms. She explained that her main concern was the strange catching sensations she felt internally. Don’t worry, he said. That’s just the internal stitches. They’re dissolvable. But it can take up to six months for that to happen. Oh dear, that’s a long time, said T. He smiled. But the stitches won’t interfere with normal life. You can start getting back to that from now on. T returned home with a smile on her face. The op had been a complete success.

We were relieved. We’d both been worrying. You’re in the dark about symptoms until you speak with an expert. Before the review, T had been taking things easy. And I’d been doing most of the domestic work. I had been able to take the odd day off, which I’d used for bike rides. But the weather was consistently bad: rainy, windy and cool. More like autumn than summer. So I went on longer rides, because often there was only one day a week that was remotely cycleable. Even so, I still managed to get soaked regularly. One day in particular stands out. I rode around part of Lough Neagh and it poured down. I opened my saddlebag to find that I’d not put my rain jacket in.

The Met Office has now told us that July 2023 was the wettest in NI since records began in 1836, with double the average rainfall. And this followed June 2023 being the driest and warmest in NI since records began. Strange to think that some people still don’t believe climate change is an important problem.