The British have “weather” – it's quite usual to have all four seasons in one day (so it is said). And it plays a large part in their daily lives and, indeed, in their conversations. Rather than a “good morning, how are you?” their greeting would take the form of “Nice/poor/bad weather for this time of year”, depending on how nice/poor/bad it actually is.
Which then becomes a natural lead-in to making comments on how the hot/cold/wet/wind is affecting their particular problem(s). If their “problem” becomes too much, they take an aspirin and go to bed. To be honest, I think they enjoy it! In certain countries, however, many individuals are subject to the phenomenon of being a météopath; here, a change in wind direction/strength or up/down changes in pressure give rise to a whole dictionary of ailments – and of course the chance to see the doctor and get “something to cure it”. How much this “treatment” costs a nation annually, I do not want to even think about.
But on a more serious note and reverting to the UK for a moment, the National Health Service has an annual budget of £100 billion, some 7% of GDP which has to pay for everything connected with health including salaries (of about 1.7 million staff). If you consider the country has some 60 million people, that’s not a great amount per capita per annum. (As I’m numerically “blind” I leave you to do the maths).If we “fast-forward” to 2020, 2050 or 2080 the situation will get worse – not by the decade but by the year. Considering changing weather patterns brings to the foreground changing health problems; in the UK where the Health Service is already under considerable and continuous stress, it is widely believed that the health budget needs to double by 2050 and perhaps even sooner, depending on the level of change. One scenario suggests that it will become much warmer and less wet. This has good and bad aspects; the good side is that fewer elderly people will die of cold; on the other side, it means that many more people from all age groups will undergo severe health problems due to heat stress brought on by much higher temperatures.
Continental Europe is a different case. As the landmass (inevitably) warms and rainfall reduces even further, the problems will be brought by “vector-borne” diseases, on wind currents and through sea action. Already, I am told, there have been sightings of the black African mosquito along certain coasts; fortunately they were not the disease-carrying type; but one thing is certain – the anopheles mosquito will not be far behind and will extend its range deep into the heart of Europe. What such an influx will do to the tourism industry is unbelievable. Can you imagine “come to beautiful (name of country) and go back with malaria”!!!!
Until next time (and stay healthy)
Peripatetic Scribe
An extremely interesting blog post and a much different one, P.S. You deal with topics from surprisingly many points of view. I used to teach people at the Meteorological Office and it was only then that I realised that talking about the weather has a large number of implications and extremely affects so many sectors. As far as health is concerned, I'm afraid the problem is going to get much more serious, due to pollution and its impacts on weather (even though some might argue there is no direct correlation between the two). So, talking about the weather does not have to be a safe and a pleasant topic. Thank you (+ Beautiful photos)
ReplyDeleteLucana
Another good piece, P.S. and I would say that these "meteopaths" should stay where they are - we have no use for them down here! It's often harsh and we have to get on with living no matter what the "weather". I think that as far as weather is concerned we have much in common with those living on that small island off the coast of France (think it's called "England" or something like that!!!)Ha ha ha....
ReplyDeleteLucana thank you. Yes, I too, believe the weather will "change" whether for the better or worse, who knows...but I hope your country with its reliance on tourism fully understands the implications and is actively DOING something, otherwise tourists will "evaporate" like rain spots on a summer day!
ReplyDeleteHi Anonymous - yes I agree NZ and UK have similarities. I also think that your (and our) weather has, over centuries, bred in us an attitude of "OK so it's only weather" and we go about our normal daily business.
ReplyDeleteFrom UK - what a splendid view of two different approaches to "weather"! I think you have a good understanding of British attitudes and to compare with those from continental Europe makes me happy to say I am delighted to be where I am - I can't see malaria heading to London (yet)!
ReplyDeleteThanks to you in UK. Given enough time (and significant climate change) some "interesting" new health problems will hit you - but I think you are safe at least until after the Olympics!!!
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