(Chalky) Ah! Unlike me before midday then - up but not awake.

[Rosie] that anomaly in Canada/US seems to have seen record temperatures increase locally not by the odd degree C, but by ten or so. Ever seen that elsewhere?

The weather in the U.S. had definitely been strange.

(Bismarck) Well, five, actually but even that is quite something and I'm not aware of anywhere in the world whose record has been busted by such a large margin. Having said that, one needs to be extremely rigorous in investigating the circumstances of any weather record. How long has the site been operating? Is the site representative of the area? Has it become built-up? Are the instruments reliable? Is the observer honest? That may all sound a bit dampening but it's absolutely necessary if the figures are to be put into historical context. I'd like to read some scientific articles about the heatwave; they should be appearing pretty soon. Certainly ignore the media who all have their agendas, one of which is to attract readers.

Waiting for enormous amounts of water to come gushing down the Rhine/Rijn through the Netherlands in the next couple of days. They're estimating record flows.

Belgium is under water. It's been raining for weeks. Aaaand it's St Swithin's Day.

(Bis) Well, it was here, yesterday. Isn't the Belgian equivalent St Godelieve, whose day was 6 July. It's bollocks, I tell you, like all weatherlore.

[Rosie] Wet bollocks innit? 'Ash before oak' and all that. (I didn't notice which was first this year, despite walking out every day past both kinds of trees...)

That's a safe assumption for any 'wise' saying that you can reverse engineer from just a couple of words. I wondered if the word 'soak' was going to show up in the rest of the rhyme before even looking it up. Imagine my amazement when I discovered it did.

(pen, Bismarck) This is quite a big one but European summer floods occur every now and then. Technical explanation here.. (V heavy going - don't bother). The world's a warmer place but whether that had anything to do with it is the subject of great debate. After all, Lynmouth was swept into the sea in 1604, 1769 and 1952 and it'll certainly happen again. The first two dates were in the Little Ice Age, when it was cooler and stormier.

Worth celebrating?

We sold our house in France earlier this year, which broke my heart, because I loved the place. BUT I am relieved not to have to worry any more about it being underwater. In 2016, we came within about 50cm of having the Seine fill our basement rooms floor to ceiling.

To have kept such a house would have been in-seine.

[RTG] Almost.

(CdM) That's a bit too close.
(RTG) No good. Pi=355/113. Even better pi = the fourth root of 2143/22.

It may be 2:42 in the morning where I am, but I need dark chocolate and am going to eat some and I don't care if anybody cares.

(KagShu) Very gratifying to note that I am not the only nutcase here though I must say I prefer brandy at that time of night.

[KS] Whatever gets you through the night. For me, it's not usually chocolate (that would involve climbing stairs and I usually eat it before bed anyway) but quite often another half-hour episode of Agatha Christie's Poirot is in order.

Couldn’t sleep last night at all. Blamed on the Covid jab for want of anything else, and on the anti-apnoea device. It’s a real bugger to be a light sleeper like me.

I usually have no problems getting off to sleep, it is the waking up at sparrow's fart and not being able to get back off to sleep that is wearing. Perhaps I ought to accept 4 to 5 hours at night plus one after a nice lunch is enough at my age. My eyes disagree.

The siesta is definitely a good idea. Those Spanish are on to something.

Mrs Tuj has had this week off work specifically to watch the Olympics, and has been roughly living on Tokyo time. It's been a wee bit disruptive!

Canon to his left
Canon to his right. Into
The valley of sleep

So, now on top of everything else, I fell in the shower at a hotel because it was THAT slippery (I had turned the water on from outside of the shower, took one step in and fell . . . hit my elbow and it was hard enough that it caused something to go wrong with my shoulder. It's now EARLY Thursday morning where I am and it happened on Saturday. It popped and became worse Wednesday morning as I was getting ready. I have an MRI they are going to do. I've been seen by a doctor at an Urgent Care and they set me up with an orthopedist that saw me who wants me to get an MRI to see if I'll need surgery. It HURTS badly.

In sympathy. Did you happen to push on that arm Wednesday? If so, reckon you've broken your radius. Had something similar. More sympathy.

Oh no! That sucks mightily. So sorry to hear you're in the wars. I've just triple-checked my voodoo doll collection and you're definitely not in it. Let me offer you a big virtual hug. Virtual hugs may be intangible, but they're also guaranteed not to hurt.

[KS]- what an arse. Sympathies, but you seem to be getting good treatment. I won't bother you with my story of 5 hours in outpatients because of a poisoned hand. That bloody hurt but not as much as a popped arm I'll bet. May the depopping come soon.

Does anyone know how to start a new game?

Yes, but I'm not one of them, being older than Methuselah, totally computer-illiterate and ethnically Welsh. Someone will help you, I'm sure, but it would be good form to announce what sort of a game you intend.

New game slot unavailable here.

[Fish-Monger] There are a limited number of game slots. Win one of the existing games with a move of pure genius to close that one and open up space for a new one. What kind of game were you thinking of?