Four Seasons In One Weekend
Saturday was a lovely day here in North Yorkshire, I walked the dog in shirt sleeves on Saturday morning, with spring bulbs poking their little heads through it was almost balmy.
Things got even better later in the day after a short stroll to the pub to see Everton dismiss ManYoo in contemptuous style, with three quarters of the pitch bathed on spring sunshine.
What a change then Sunday morning to wake up to 2-3cm of snow that was still falling quite heavily when Nogger's Dog was chomping at the bit to get out of the door for his morning constitutional.
Still, snow has to be better than rain, the poor old Argies have been getting plenty of that of late by all accounts, 90mm fell in 90 minutes in Buenos Aires on Friday. What a contrast to twelve months ago, when Argie farmers couldn't buy a drop of rain, now they're getting twice their seasonal average. This has caused some crop losses according to reports emerging over the weekend.
Excessive rain also seems to be becoming a problem in the US, which may ultimately delay spring planting for the second year running in some areas.
Meanwhile, bent as a nine bob note Indian officials are now saying that the country will produce a record crop of 82 MMT of wheat, and maybe more this year. Chuffed to bits with having nicked all of neighbouring Pakistan's water, a senior scientist with the farm ministry told reporters on Friday that "We are heading for a record harvest of 82 MMT and, God willing, it will be higher still."
Things aren't quite so euphoric over the border in Pakistan where wheat production is expected to fall around 17% to 20 MMT this year, with output in non-irrigated areas slashed after months of virtually no significant rainfall. Even production in irrigated areas of Punjab, which accounts for around 75% of the national crop, has been affected after India sneakily diverted water away from Pakistani feeder canals to irrigate it's own crops instead. "We didn't do nuffink Guv, we was at Ricky and Bianca's wedding innit," said an Indian official.
Things got even better later in the day after a short stroll to the pub to see Everton dismiss ManYoo in contemptuous style, with three quarters of the pitch bathed on spring sunshine.
What a change then Sunday morning to wake up to 2-3cm of snow that was still falling quite heavily when Nogger's Dog was chomping at the bit to get out of the door for his morning constitutional.
Still, snow has to be better than rain, the poor old Argies have been getting plenty of that of late by all accounts, 90mm fell in 90 minutes in Buenos Aires on Friday. What a contrast to twelve months ago, when Argie farmers couldn't buy a drop of rain, now they're getting twice their seasonal average. This has caused some crop losses according to reports emerging over the weekend.
Excessive rain also seems to be becoming a problem in the US, which may ultimately delay spring planting for the second year running in some areas.
Meanwhile, bent as a nine bob note Indian officials are now saying that the country will produce a record crop of 82 MMT of wheat, and maybe more this year. Chuffed to bits with having nicked all of neighbouring Pakistan's water, a senior scientist with the farm ministry told reporters on Friday that "We are heading for a record harvest of 82 MMT and, God willing, it will be higher still."
Things aren't quite so euphoric over the border in Pakistan where wheat production is expected to fall around 17% to 20 MMT this year, with output in non-irrigated areas slashed after months of virtually no significant rainfall. Even production in irrigated areas of Punjab, which accounts for around 75% of the national crop, has been affected after India sneakily diverted water away from Pakistani feeder canals to irrigate it's own crops instead. "We didn't do nuffink Guv, we was at Ricky and Bianca's wedding innit," said an Indian official.
