Yes, we are accustomed to very different climates. I think I'll keep mine! I lived in the North with the snow when I was a child and there arent enough clothes to keep the cold out but the snow was fun to play in and beautiful to look at. I do miss that every now and then.

Diane

Prosaic, 

It is hard to go without one here, especially at night when trying to sleep - miserable. We arent close enough to the beach to get any of the sea breeze - so open windows only let in hot air! 

Diane

prosaic wrote on Jun 10^th, 2008 at 4:33pm:



I don't recommend it.  Last week when it wasn't as warm, I was wearing a jumper and a fleece and still losing the circulation in my fingers.

The New Forest is lovely.  I don't remember forests when I went to Orlando - only swamps and aligators.   

I love the heat but loath air conditioning.  I get very cold going round the supermarket when it's 75 degrees outside. At work we have an awful air circulation system. Unless it is very hot outside, I freeze despite wearing two jumpers.

Hi Diane,

>D> Your Forest sounds lovely. I would never imagine a forest being planted, that is interesting.

I am fairly certain there is no part of England which has not been altered by mankind - the same may apply to Wales and Scotland. We have no wilderness areas and nothing 100% natural in origin. The latest forest to be planted in the National Forest in the English East Midlands.

The New Forest was planted by William I because he wanted somewhere near the English capital (then Winchester, not London) to go hunting.

>D> We do have tree farms here, which are rows of planted pines for future cutting, but not for forest purposes.

Well all our forests are harvested - though never all at once but that is how they are financed - the Forestry Commission (a Government agency) sells the timber and uses some of the money to provide the forest as a recreation for people.

>D> I am spoiled with the weather, even the heatwave we are having. It has been in the 100's for a couple weeks now. We rode the bike on the interstate yesterday and it felt like an oven on the pavement. I can only imagine what the temperature of the pavement was, surely you would not have been able to walk on it barefoot!

Wow. Sounds too hot to work - I have my window wide-open now but would not if it were like that outside. How did you cope in biking leathers and helmets? Must have been unbearable.

p.

Here's a link - scroll toward the bottom of the page for history.
http://www.thenewforest.co.uk/abouttheforest.html

Nas,

It was like one small area forgot to change seasons. I dont believe the fire was enough to kill anything except the underbrush, if you will notice the tips of the trees you can see some green still there. Sometimes they do what is called a controlled burn, intentionally setting things on fire and not letting it get out of hand, as Prosaic said they are good for the environment. Last year we had two large fires around where we live, when you went outside you could literally see ashes falling from the sky and the fires were a good distance from us, they are scarey.

Diane 

They must really stand out amongst the green.  Are the trees all dead after the fire?  What will happen to them.


We hear about the forest fires over here and it is quite frightening how quickly the flames can devour vast areas of woodlands and how difficult it is to get them under control.