Share a story of how you have experienced weather and/or climate at this place
Last year whilst out walking, my husband and I saw a huge massive storm cloud gathering across the sea, a small boat rushing in to the harbour to escape it and before we made it home, we were absolutely poured down on - it was the worst storm we have ever seen in our area. It soaked us completely through to our undergarments, leaving us shaking, frozen, and iced through. This had been in the midst of a warm day in August 2022. I have wonderful stormy photographs but the system will not allow me to upload them, but I would love to share them with you.
Have you observed the weather, climate, or natural environment at this place changing over time?
I have seen the sands shift and the rocks along the coast take up different positions. We are noticing far more jellyfish, more starfish, and squids that are washed up on the beach and we make a massive effort to rescue them regularly. We scoop up the sand around stranded jellyfish and release them back into the water. They do not want to be beached and why should they suffer. We have noticed far more plastic and waste along the beach and I make every effort to litter pick and ensure the environment is safe for animals. If I see nets or ropes, I remove them. I think the weather changes more quickly than it did before, and I recall one particular day in January 2023 when the day began with sunshine, and by the time we got home, we had run the gamut of each different weather front - we had rain, hail, even snowflakes falling, and back to sunshine again. I have never ever seen that before.
Have you done anything to prepare for or address climate and weather changes at this place?
I think you have to prepare by being open and flexible as to what you wear, how you view the changes,and how you cope with them. First and foremost, be clothed appropriately, with layers so you can add or take away if you are warm or cold. Allow yourself a head covering and waterproofs. Ensure you have wellies and warm socks, too. Ideally wear a sun hat in warmer weather, but we all need sunshine to thrive and grow. Its life giving, so don't get carried away with the sunscreen! Most importantly, learn to understand the wisdom of the Seasonal Nodes system perfected by the Ancient Chinese which is based on the passage of the sun around the earth = 360 degrees. Each 15 degree transit is approximately 15 days long, and dictates weather conditions mainly across the whole world. It is remarkably accurate and easy to follow and our own bodies follow its wisdom as we are microcosms of the macrocosm. As we move further away from the wisdom of Nature and the natural world, it becomes increasingly erratic, and difficult to predict. However, if we could learn to live in tune with it, we would find it is not so difficult to understand. We have to listen, observe, and understand. In the Ancient Chinese Wisdom of the Tao, there is understanding based on observation. The Chinese have a phase known as the observational phase, and have proved many things which actually exist in Nature exist in tandem with the human body, including the Five Elements system which also helps us to understand that the Earth is central, governing Late Summer, the Springtime governs the element of Wood, the Summer is governed by the element of Fire (Sun), and the Winter by the element of Water (ICE AND SNOW) and the Autumn by the element of Metal - where we are now. We also have the correlation of the systems of the human body in these elements so that Water = Kidneys, Wood = Liver, Fire = Heart, and so forth. Moving away from Nature only harms us. The Way = Tao.
*Originally submitted to the Highland Weather & Climate Story Map Commonplace Platform on 28 September 2023.
