A heat dome over North America, conflagrations in Greece, floods in Germany, Belgium and London, smoke from Siberian forest fires drifting over the North Pole, the hottest temperature ever recorded in Europe.

These were things never imagined when I was growing up. Any possibility of these things was consigned safely to the uncertain future.

And yet.

The climate has definitely changed in my lifetime and there can be no doubt that fact is overwhelmingly due to human activity.

That apocalyptic future is here. No longer in the future.

Now.

What will it take to make certain people believe that?

I hadn’t really expected to see any Art Deco in Cockermouth. There was however this lampshade in the entrance corridor to an antique centre.

On Main Street there was this shop front which must have been added on in the 30s, with its typical banded windows at the top and angled entrance.

And on Lorton Street we have a stepped roof line.

Some of the buildings had flood level signs for the flood of November 2009. The water reached diffeent heights on the buildings depending how far along Main Street they were.

Edited to add:- The chicken and black pudding stack we both ate at the Kingfisher on Crown Street was delicious – especially the garnish of mustard sauce. The only possible criticism could be the chicken was perhaps a touch too browned on the outside but for me that didn’t detract from it at all.