Pheww!

Well, that was a hot one wasn’t it! July that is. Apparently the hottest July for 100 years. One of the things I love (?) about the British weather is it’s sheer unpredictability. Wonderful. But the hot weather, so much longed for during the dark days of a horrible winter, does have it’s drawbacks. Our inability to cope with it for one. We can’t cope with a few days of snow in the winter or soaring temperatures in the summer.

How many people remember scenes like these?

Quite a contrast! And we seem to be equally unable to cope with either extreme.
But there have been some really good days in this July. Yorkshire is a county where I have spent many happy times, and we went back for a visit, staying with my brother and his longsuffering wife! One of my on-going daydreams is to decide where in the country I would like to move to for my ‘declining years’ given a free choice. High on the list is Ilkley in Yorkshire. This is one of the beauty spots close to the town, the Cow and Calf up on Ilkley Moor. The one you go up on ‘baht at’! But it is also situated at the head of Wharfedale, with all it’s beauties, Bolton Abbey being one of my particular favourites. The town itself is also a joy. It has a wonderfully eclectic mix of shops, and interesting eating places. The most famous of these is the eponymous Bettys which has branches in the so elegant towns of Harrogate and Ripon. Having tea there regularly is a recipe for disaster. It puts pounds and inches on you just to walk in the door.

I lived in Ilkley for a few years when my children were young. A visit last month showed a town not much different from when we were there in the 1970’s. It seems to have managed to keep reasonably up to date, without losing it’s way. Quite a feat in this day and age.
Another highlight of July is always the Game Fair at Ragley Hall. Most years it is the Midlands version of this event. Every so often we are honoured with the national CLA event. The main difference is the sheer scale. For the local event we can drive up when we want to with very little trouble. This year, as the day went on, the queues of cars reached back for miles. We made the unusual (for us) decision to get there early. The gates opened at 7 am, so we set out at the unheard of time of 6:30! Boy, was it worth it! We were not held up at all, parked very near the entrance gate, and started walking round before the sun had reached it’s hottest. A win/win situation. When I told a friend we were going she said she awaited the annual picture of JU with a bird of prey! Not this time unfortunately. There were plenty of birds of prey, but none you could ‘get your hands on’ sadly. She will have to make do with this! A magnificent African Crowned Eagle giving us the evil eye! As for the fair itself, my favourite part is always the food bit. All the really local stuff, made by artisans who love what they are doing. Food that is made with passion always tastes that little bit better doesn’t it. We are so lucky around here to have so many local producers, including a brewery my husband swears by, Purity Beer, whose UBU beer is named after the dog ‘Useless Bloody Urchin’! The local cider makers, Hogan’s, are my particular choice.
Having been away, and then running into a week of really horrible weather (still hot but wet and thundery), I haven’t played golf for a few weeks. So I am just hoping the weather holds for this Sunday. It will be good to get out again, just hope I can improve on the golf I was playing before I went away! But this brings me to a beef. A few weeks ago it was the Men’s British Open Golf (or The Open as it’s known!) and the BBC had it wall to wall, 9 in the morning till about 8 at night, all day, every day. Today the Ladies equivalent has started, with the favourite in line to make history. What does the  BBC give us? About 1:30 to 5:00 each day! For a broadcaster who makes such an issue of ‘equality’ this smacks of chauvinism. Shame on you BBC. Imbee Park, going for her fourth major in a row, to hold all four in one calendar year, a feat never done so far.