...amid the encircling gloom, starts Cardinal John Newman’s poem about the helplessness one feels at certain stages in one’s life, and one prays for divine guidance. As I write this on this palindromic date, 22.02.2022, despite the signs of spring all around me, it is difficult not to feel a sense of gloom. Nearly two years of living with the pandemic, one day at a time, had shrunken my horizons, but now with President Putin’s annexation (in effect) of more of Ukraine, the sense of encircling gloom has intensified for me. Newman’s poem continues, ‘I do not ask to see the distant scene: one step enough for me’, but I suspect that is hard for most of us to say.
In the meanwhile, we have had hurricanes and flooding, although not as severely affecting us as other parts of our country. It is only the end of February, but we have already had storms Arwen, Barra, Corrie, Dudley, Eunice and Franklin, with Gladys coming up next, and Herman, Imani, Jack, Kim, Logan, Méabh, Nasim, Olwen, Pól, Ruby, Seán, Tineke, Vergil and Willemien to come! Storms that are likely to cause a red or amber warning are named collaboratively by the meteorological offices of the UK, Ireland and the Netherlands and the names express the diversity of the populations of those countries! While meteorologists do not consider that the frequency of storms and hurricanes is increasing with global warming, their severity is affected, because warmer weather holds more moisture in the air, influencing the strength of the storms.
You will notice that this issue has a report of a meeting of the Langley Neighbourhood Forum. It is good to see that this Forum, where residents of Langley can express concerns and views about how we are governed, has sprung back into life. We wish them all success in their future endeavours.
It is good to have the Covid-19 legal restrictions lifted, Let us hope that we shall all be sensible and be sensitive to the needs of our neighbours as we move towards Spring and Summer.
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