Feest Isolation Days –11 February 2021
Wow! When the government finally got their travel strategy in place they have not messed about! Anyone travelling from a red zone (there are 33 of these countries) and not declaring it could find themselves ending up in prison with a 10 grand fine to pay. Travelling in from anywhere means tests and fines if these are not taken. No one can say they aren’t taking this seriously anymore. They can complain that it should have happened sooner, and they might want them to put the plans in place for entering the country from anywhere, but there are now plans. Some are saying they are disproportionate. There is definitely no pleasing everyone in these tricky matters!
The weather people promised us that we would have cold weather this week and they were not wrong. It is bitterly cold. Indoor mats and bikes are the exercise answers at the moment. That cold wind blows and we shiver. It is February after all. And it’s not 2019. That’s when all UK records were broken for warmth in February. It was 21 degrees on the 26th of February, but that was preceded by cold bitter weather. The coldest ever February was in 1960 (records began in 1910). We still have time yet to get some warmth in Feb – or more cold!
It is lovely to see yet more golden sun and blue skies. I do love a blue morning sky! But why is the sky blue? The Met office tell us about that! “When the Sun’s light reaches the Earth’s atmosphere it is scattered, or deflected, by the tiny molecules of gas (mostly nitrogen and oxygen) in the air. Because these molecules are much smaller than the wavelength of visible light, the amount of scattering depends on the wavelength. This effect is called Rayleigh scattering, named after Lord Rayleigh who first discovered it.
Shorter wavelengths (violet and blue) are scattered the most strongly, so more of the blue light is scattered towards our eyes than the other colours. You might wonder why the sky doesn’t actually look purple since the violet light is scattered even more strongly than blue. This is because there isn’t as much violet in sunlight to start with, and our eyes are much more sensitive to blue. The blue light that gives the sky its colour, is sufficiently bright to make all the stars that we see at night disappear since the light they emit is much dimmer.”
Ahh. That explains it!
According to the Chakras of Indian origin, the colour blue is associated with speech and hearing and the throat. Opening this chakra apparently encourages communication. Some say spiritual communication. I wonder if heaven is blue?
Some people see everything in the world with a blue tint. These folks might be forgiven for wanting a bit of grey in their lives. Cyanopsia is the medical term for what is commonly known as blue vision. The condition often follows the extraction of a cataract but also can occur as a side effect of taking Cialis or Levitra.
These people may be feeling blue! For the origin of that phrase we have to turn our eyes from the sky to the sea. Old sailing ships would fly blue flags if they lost their Captain or any of the officers during a voyage, and a blue band was painted along the hull when returning to home port.
No sailing here at the moment, so no feeling blue. Instead, I’ll put on another sweater and stop shivering sometime soon.
Stay warm! If you’re in the Southern Hemisphere, give a thought to your pals who are not – and enjoy the sun.
With love,
Kathy x