The impact of Storm Ciara in west London was minimal. Almost all the parks were closed on Sunday, one tree and some boughs were brought down in Margravine Cemetery and a tree fell across the towpath on the river. The willow tree threatened with felling in 2018 (see Wind in the Willows) did not shed even a twig. When I walked along the towpath at 9.30 on Monday morning the tree had been cleared. And there was one plus: on Sunday afternoon when it was high tide, I saw a seal frolicking by Hammersmith Bridge. They have been seen as far upstream as Chiswick but usually don’t venture further than Canary Wharf.
Now that I’ve ticked off Storm Ciara the next worry is the ‘flu virus. It seems inevitable that it will spread into general populations and cities will be especially vulnerable. I hope I am being pessimistic but I envisage serious disruption ahead with public events cancelled, a severe economic downturn and, sadly, loss of life. However, it will pass and by the end of April should peter out. Then I can start worrying about the impact of the UK’s departure from the EU at the end of this year.
When that has been sorted I can concentrate on worrying about the significant ways life in the UK will change to achieve zero carbon emissions by 2035. There are a number of threads in this latter day Bayeux tapestry. First, car ownership among city dwellers will plummet making it sensible to invest in a high speed rail network. The Germans got there first with autobahns, the French with TGV and the UK is paying the price for under-investment in rail under successive governments. Abandoning our cars will be easy-peasy compared to switching from natural gas to electric boilers and cookers. Will the UK abandon gas power stations too? If so there will be a surge in demand for electricity and one less way to generate same. The only way to inhibit people from flying will be to make it prohibitively expensive, as it was seventy years ago. At least there won’t be any need for a third runway at Heathrow. I doubt that our good intentions are realistic or deliverable but there will be an impact on businesses. I hope the funds I’m invested in are thinking about this and re-positioning themselves for this new paradigm.
What a lot there is to worry about. Indeed we do live in interesting times.