Today I have been rather busy with watching the Rugby World Cup (a brilliant victory for Ireland) and making hospital visits so I don’t have a lot of time for my blog post. However, I did spot an interesting article by Kate Taylor which I found courtesy of yahoo.  In case you didn’t get the opportunity to read it at yahoo here it is. It’s called “the five most deadly relationship questions” and I think that it contains a lot of subtle truths:

Some questions just aren’t worth the oxygen you expend asking them. Especially in love. Here, match.com’s relationship expert Kate Taylor reveals the mistakes you don’t want to make out loud

“Did you get my message?”
Anyone who knows anything about love and life immediately recognises this question for what it is – the relationship equivalent of the pin being removed from a hand-grenade. You have approximately 10 seconds to get yourself to a place of safety, and you’re not going to make it if you simply reply, “Which one?” (with all its undertones of SMS complacency). What the asker of this question is really asking, of course, is: “Do you love me? Why don’t you reply to stuff I send you? You used to reply, you used to bombard me with texts all day. But these days, oh no, you’re too busy with your fancy friends and your new iPad to bother with the likes of me. Well, perhaps I’ll stop texting you then. I’ll use up my free text allowance exchanging filth with that ex who still emails me when they’re drunk. Would you like that? Would you? WOULD YOU?” The only way to bring this back is to put down whatever you’re doing – as long as it’s not your partner – and say, “Yes, shall we discuss it now?” You do risk that your partner will test you – saying deliberately oblique stuff like, “So are we on?” or throwing out a bluff like, “Yellow or blue?” – but you have to take the chance. Often all your partner really wants to hear is, “I love you.” And the sound of their text-alert a bit more often.

“Was it good for you?”
Really, come on – what are they going to say? Lying there, damply steaming in the afterglow, no partner is ever going to give you a truthful post-match analysis: “The first five minutes were a sheer joy, but you lost your way in the second half. I expected better from you, I admit, especially after your recent season in Brazil.” You’re only asking because you feel insecure and that’s never arousing. You might try to get feedback in a different way, by just flat-out complimenting them on their performance, but if they just say, “Thanks,” you’ll feel worse. The best thing to do is keep quiet and assume they thought it was incredible – and that they’re just not telling you because they’ve lost the strength to speak.

“Shall we go halves?”
This never ends well. Asked by a woman, this question means, “Do you still love me? Talk is cheap, I need you to say it with your Visa card.” Asked by a man, it just sounds like, “Wow, you’ve gained weight. I’m not subsidising those hips anymore, sister.” If you haven’t already worked-out a satisfactory bill-splitting arrangement, now isn’t the time to bring that up (even if the waitress has cleared away the sharp knives, those wineglasses can still be lethal), but try to address it in the future. Most people find that taking turns to pay for dates is less soul-destroying than going 50\50 on each one. Or replace expensive dates with thoughtful, cheap ones – a picnic where you’ve prepared your partner’s favourite foods, for example, or rent their favourite film and throw in a box of microwave popcorn.

“Do you know that girl?”
…Because if you don’t, and you really have just spent the last five minutes gawping at her like I don’t exist, I’m going to take you down into a universe of pain. When I’ve finished with you, you’ll be begging me to remove your eyeballs just so you can never disrespect me this way again. Not that you’ll be able to speak.”
If you’re a woman and you find yourself asking this question, slap yourself. The only way to keep your sassy edge in a relationship is to maintain as much self-control as you can. Keep “dignity” as your mantra and you won’t go far wrong – you won’t booty-text at 3am, you won’t drink too much on dates, and you won’t let insecurity leak out in seemingly innocuous ways like asking this question. If you don’t like how you look and fear your partner might find someone else, then improve yourself. Not to keep him, but to make yourself feel better. Look after yourself, exercise, wear your best clothes. Feel like a catch!
If you’re a man on the receiving end of this question, there can be only one answer: “What, that ugly one?” Then check you still have all your limbs. If you do, you dodged a bullet so vow never to make the mistake again. Scientists say there are biological reasons men leer at girls, stuff to do with “movement in the peripheral vision” and “survival instinct”, but don’t quote me unless you want the rest of your sentences to be typed out by a pencil attached to your forehead. Just keep your eyes on your own prize – the girl you’re with.

“Where is this going?”
Ah, there it is. The death knell. The knock at the door from the Four Horsemen of the relationship aplocalypse… or from the removal men your partner booked in case your answer doesn’t involve dropping to one knee. It’s the big one. How much do I hate it? Let me count the ways. Firstly, it’s usually asked by women and puts them squarely in the position of no-power. Asking this says, “You’re in the driving seat, you get to choose my future.” Yeuch. My advice is always – set a personal timeline of when you’d like to be committed to your partner and when it’s passed, THAT is the time to speak.  Not now, three weeks in, when you still barely know each other. Don’t worry that it’ll drag on for years and you’ll be wasting time – the timeline will stop that happening. Secondly, this question implies there’s no communication in the relationship – the future, as a topic, should come up naturally as you get closer, not have to be nailed-down artificially. And thirdly, it says that the goal of Marriage, Babies, Forever, is more important than the person you’re actually with. Tick-tock, come on, if you’re not going to propose then I can’t hang around! How can that be flattering? Instead, ask questions that tell you if this is even a person you’d LIKE to spend the rest of your life with. What are their political views? What are their retirement plans? Will they ever see a doctor about their snoring? Those are far more important.
(The above advice stands, unless of course, this question was just directed to a bus-driver. In that case, sorry – as you were.)

Well if you manage to avoid these questions and your relationship takes off the following video may be of interest to you:

The Top 25 Wedding First Dance Songs

Please click the link if you are interested in this audiobook:

Share this:

Ever since I can remember I have been interested in foreign languages and culture. A language can tell us a lot about the mindset of the people who use it. One of my favourite languages is Spanish and for today’s blog I will explore some of their proverbs. It is interesting to see both the similarities and differences if you compare them with the English equivalents. The proverbs and explanations have mostly come from  a lovely website called Spanish Learning Corner:

Cada quien en su casa es rey
Everyone is king in his own house (An Englishman’s Home is his Castle)
There is indeed no place on Earth like one’s own home. It’s an extension of our own being and the place for us to live fully and freely according to our own judgment, tastes… and even eccentricities.

No es tan bravo el león como lo pintan
The lion is not as fierce as it is made out to be.(His bark is worse than his bite)
This Spanish proverb is used to point out that a certain person is not as bad or fearsome as one had been led to think.

Lo cortés no quita lo valiente
Courtesy does not exclude courage
Being courteous and respectful does not mean we have to put up with everything…There´s nothing intrinsically wrong or impolite about protecting one´s dignity!

El hábito hace al monje
The habit makes the monk
To the English “manners maketh man”  but to the Spanish it is the suit that makes the man.
Our choice of clothing does not merely affect our appearance and define the persona we wish society to know us by. It can actually be a tool for moulding our inner being. For instance, for the person wishing to acquire the virtue of modesty, wearing modest clothing is a good start.

La curiosidad mató al gato
Curiosity killed the cat
This can be said whenever we want to discourage a person from indulging in excessive interest in other people’s business… for instance our own.

Las paredes oyen
Walls have ears
Tthis Spanish proverb can be used as a hint to the person we are talking with that he should either avoid being explicit or, better still, change the subject altogether. Our concern is that there are people around who, under cover of being busy with their own business, are actually all ears for ours….

Las malas noticias vuelan
Bad news flies (Bad news travels fast)
Human nature being what it is, the average mortal finds far more pleasure in spreading word about other people´s misfortunes than about their good luck…Accordingly, bad news travels faster.

Muchos cocineros estropean el caldo
Too many cooks spoil the broth
By getting in each other’s way and applying different methods and recipes to one same dish, multiple cooks are likely to end up with a soup salted twice over or not at all. In other words, it´s not always convenient to get too many people involved with a task…

Los trapos sucios se lavan en casa
Dirty clothes are washed at home (Don’t air your dirty laundry in public)
If you have issues to sort out with your spouse or other family members, do it in the privacy of your home. No need to let other people on!

If you like comparing Spanish and English try these two songs in their Spanish versions by clicking on the links. Personally I have to say I prefer them in Spanish:

Ricky Martin La vida loca in Spanish

Shakira Loca the Spanish version.

If you are interested in learning Spanish you can click on the languages tab at the top of the page. Alternatively you might like to try Tony Buzan’s revolutionary approach to language learning:

Share this:

There are few things I enjoy more in life than watching rugby on the television. So, when the Rugby World Cup comes round it is a great treat. this morning I managed to watch England start by edging the match against Argentina in a tense, bruising encounter. But, in my opinion, the real star of the World Cup so far is Sonny the sheep.

Given the phenomenum that was Paul the Octopus in South Africa’s football World Cup last year, Sonny will certainly have his work cut out to riase the baaaaa and outshine the eight-armed underwater fortune-teller . But he has already shown his uniqueness in that, according to NZnewsUK, of the 40 million sheep currently resident in New Zealand he is the only one who would appear to have this amazing psychic ability.

Sonny Wool is a three year old Sheep who was born in Dannevirke. At the moment he normally lives at Manakau near Levin but for the next 6 weeks of the World Cup, Sonny will be based in Wellington.

Sonny Wool was recognised as having special abilities as a young lamb. According to
Dan Boyd, a star sheep agent, Sonny Wool could predict when it was going to rain, and tap on the door to get inside.

He has been described as showing the same sort of autism traits as humans, and shows his emotions through his psychic abilities. Sonny Wool actually has a blind twin sister called Maggie, due to the fact that his mother was affected by a condition while pregnant, this fact is thought to have helped Sonny develop his psychic abilities.

Sonny Wool has a fetish for lights at night, an obsession with rugby balls and is an avid All Black supporter, making the next 6 weeks very exciting for the sheep. He will be using his psychic ability to predict the outcome of All Black games in the Rugby World Cup.

This is a quest he began on Friday night by correctly predicting that New Zealand would beat Tonga (ok a bit of a no-brainer even for a psychic sheep; but you’ve got to start somewhere!).

Sonny Wool’s way of communication for the World Cup, as you can see in the video clips, is via his feed with corresponding flags attached; the feed he decides to eat first is Sonny’s prediction for the corresponding game.

Sonny Predicts the World Cup opener.

How England are recruiting sheep to support their rugby team.

Share this:

Today I read an interesting article on Yahoo about the most expensive films of all time. It appears that “The Lone Ranger” film starring Johnny Depp has just been dropped for financial reasons; which just goes to show how the world economic situation has even affected Hollywood.

The list is particularly interesting as it takes inflation into account. So without further ado here is the all important top ten list:

10 – King Kong / Spider-Man 2
These two films cost just over £129 million and £124 million respectively; and in present day terms this would work out at £145 million.
09 – Avatar
‘Avatar’ cost a whopping £148 million to make  in 2009 which slightly inflates to £152 million in today’s money.  However, as it took over £1.2 billion at the box office it more than paid for itself.
08 – Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.
At just under £153 million, it plunders the eighth spot above ‘Avatar’, but is generally reckoned not to be as good as the first Pirates film.
07 – Waterworld
‘Waterworld’, starring Kevin Costner, is one of the most expensive films ever made. It did very badly at the US box office, but eveyually made a profit of $62 million. At today’s prices it would cost £155 million.
06 – Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
The sixth Harry Potter film cost £156 million, but given the worldwide popularity of Harry Potter it made a massive box office profit in excess of £570 million.

05 – Tangled
This Disney remake of Rapunzel cost slightly less than £160 million, but took £362million at the box office.

04 – Spider-Man 3
This film was massively expensive at £167 million, but still made a profit of £30 million.

03 – Titanic
This was one of the first films with a budget over £100 million (in 1997 money). Today, that sum rises to a monstrous £171 million! It was a resounding success and took almost £1.2 billion at the box office and was the highest-grossing movie before Avatar.

02 – Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
This film only just missed out on the top spot with £195 million in today’s cash. The money certainly didn’t seem to go into the quality of the script.

01 – Cleopatra
Cleopatra cost just £27 million pounds in 1963, but if you take inflation into account this relativelt small sum becomes a massive £196 million!

Click here to see the ORIGINAL TRAILER for Cleopatra.

Do you think that these movies are worth the money spent on them? Let us know which is your favourite in the box below.

Share this:

It is now Sunday evening and what a rainy day it has been! The rain affected the last day at Burghley too with very difficult conditions for the last day. at the start of the day the leaderboard was very close with just one fence seperating the top three. In the end it was a very exciting spectacle. Andrew Nicholson put the pressure on early jumping a clear round on his second horse, Nereo, who had been in 5th place.

Unfortunately he could not repeat the clear round on Avebury, who had been lying in second. Most horses had at least one fence down, so there was a lot of pressure on the overnight leader, William Fox-Pitt, in his round on Parklane Hawk. In the end he had a brilliant round and only incurred one time fault. Andrew Nicholson was second on Nereo and the ever-popular Mary King finished in third place on King’s Temptress.

This meant that William Fox-Pitt is the first person to have won the Burghley Horse Trials six times and can go into next year’s olympic season with a great deal of confidence, even though, judging by the strength of the New Zealand performance, it is unlikely that team GB will have things completely their own way. I hope to add video footage of the Show Jumping round tomorrow but for now click the link below to see highlights of the Cross Country.

Click here to see Show Jumping Highlights
Tom McEwen\’s Burghley Diary (Show Jumping)

Click here to see Cross Country Highlights

Today I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to go to the world famous Burghley horse trials, which take place annually in September in the magnificent grounds of Burghley House in Cambridgeshire. This year there were record crowds for the cross-country event. Like many of the others there my day started with a trip round the many splendid stalls and then a walk round the course looking at the different fences and riders. So what happened today at Burghley?

Today’s main story was that William Fox-Pitt had regained the lead with a clear cross-country round inside the time limit on four-star first-timer Parklane Hawk.

A delighted William said: “I was down on the clock halfway round, but he coped very well with the undulations and came home full of running. I’m very excited about him for the future.”  (Horse and Hound).

The overnight leader after the dressage section was Simone Deiterman who crashed out at Capability’s Cutting. Fortunately both Simone and the horse were unhurt. A total of 10 riders produced clear rounds inside the time on Mark Phillips’ big and bold cross-country course, which rewarded positive riding and required a very fit horse.

Andrew Nicholson was one of the riders who produced a clear round within the time on his horse Avebury and he is now in second place, just in front of Caroline Powell on Lenamore. According to Horse and Hound Caroline said: “Lenamore knows Burghley so well that he kept trying to take me in the direction the track normally runs, and I had to tell him, ‘No, it’s this way!’. But once he worked out where he was going, he was fantastic.”

Mary king dropped one place to 4th with Kings Temptress, picking up 1.2 time-penalties, while Andrew Nicholson has a second horse in the top 5 after collecting an extra 2.8 on Nereo. Ireland’s Elizabeth Power produced a fine cross-country performance to add just 2.4 to her dressage score of 43.3pen and moved up one place to 6th.

Unfortunately the extra length caught out a few horses, who were clearly tiring and then fell towards the end of the course. These included America’s Michael Pollard and the attractive grey Icarus, who dramatically tipped up jumping into the new water crossing at fence 26. Icarus took a rest in the water before getting back on his feet and walking into the horse ambulance. Michael suffered a broken wrist and the horse was rather shaken. Other casualties of the day included Oliver Townend on Neo Du Breuil and Daniel Sibley who fell quite spectacularly in the main arena.

Here is a link to the preview to this year’s Burghley Horse Trials.Burghley 2011 Preview

If you are a fan of eventing please check out Mary King’s autobiography, which you can get on audiobook.

<iframe src=”http://rcm-uk.amazon.co.uk/e/cm?t=jsvisions-21&o=2&p=8&l=as1&asins=1409104788&ref=tf_til&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr” style=”width:120px;height:240px;” scrolling=”no” marginwidth=”0″ marginheight=”0″ frameborder=”0″></iframe>

Share this:

Isn’t it strange how when you break up from school for the summer the first thing you are likely to bump into in any major supermarket is one of those awful, inescapable “back to school” placards. So, if the British weather isn’t enough to put a dampener on your holidays the supermarkets will certainly do it all in the interests of good healthy capitalism.
Well some school have already gone back and those that haven’t are girding up their loins for the start of the new term next week. So what better timing for the Tory education guru, Michael Gove, to make a pledge to end classroom chaos and put the teacher back in command.

Michael Gove lines up future Conservative voters.

These are words that will definitely impress potential voters, although it may be a little late to win back the hearts and minds of teachers who have just seen their pension commandeered by the government in an attempt to assuage the seemingly limitless thirst of the economic black hole that was kindly opened up by those charming merchant bankers.

In this instance, however, I feel that his remarks will, or at least should, be welcomed by the teaching profession. I know from my own teaching experience what it feels like to be trapped for hour after hour with a group of uncivilised, disruptive pupils without any support from the school management who will always support the pupils but will come down on teaching staff like a ton of bricks if they so much as raise their voice to a level that pupils don’t like. Surely no one can pretend that the restoration of a teacher’s authority in the classroom is an undesirable thing. But what exactly do Mr Gove and his motley crew propose? Here are his main points (in italics) together my comments:

• Rights for teachers to restrain unruly pupils without the need to record the incident. Obviously red tape and worry about having to answer for legitimate actions often prevent teachers from taking the necessary action.
• Increased financial penalties for parents who fail to ensure that their children attend school. This worries me a little as I know that there are decent children who have a touch of “schoolphobia” and whose parents are desperate to get them to school.
• More male teachers to provide male role models. Does this mean positive discrimination?
• Anonymity for staff accused of mistreating children to protect them from malicious allegations. A sensible and welcome move.
• The power to search children for any items such as mobile phones and iPods. Again this is a very practical suggestion, especially given the amount of disruption and lost teaching time caused by our electronic friends.
• Heads to be allowed to expel pupils without fear of being overruled. This looks good in theory, but the question remains as to what happens to the expelled pupils who could be just as unruly in the streets as they are in the classroom.
• An end to the requirement for teachers to give parents 24 hours’ notice of a detention. This immediacy would surely help pupils link the punishment they receive to the offence committed.

For my part I would like to say that, welcome as some of these measure are, they do smack heavily of Tory sabre-rattling in reaction to the recent riots. Let’s be brutally honest; these measures alone will not cure the ills of the youth of today. Young people have always been difficult to deal with and always will be, the question goes deeper than one of schooling it goes to the core of our society. How do we stop young people feeling marginalised? What can we do about dysfunctional families who live in a dysfunctional society that exists within a moral vacuum?

If young people are to grow into the model citizens of the future then there are qualities they need that no amount of sabre-rattling or classroom legislation can bring about. These are three simple qualites, the 3 R’s, that needs to be inculcated into children from the very first and nurtured within the heart of the family. These 3 R’s are Rules, Regulations and above all Respect and they are powerful weapons in the battle to educate our young people.

Please watch this video that shows that the “latest” statement by Michael Gove is just a reaffirmation of policies that have been around for several months already:

Michael Gove at Pimlico School

Here is an example of the state that teachers can easily reach in the classroom and is just one of many examples of classroom disruption on YouTube:Teacher loses it.

.&lt;iframe src=”http://rcm-uk.amazon.co.uk/e/cm?t=jsvisions-21&o=2&p=8&l=as1&asins=1903362083&ref=tf_til&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr” style=”width:120px;height:240px;” scrolling=”no” marginwidth=”0″ marginheight=”0″ frameborder=”0″>&lt;/iframe>

Share this:

Usain Bolt has the will to win

I have recently been watching some of the World Athletics Championships on television. Having never been a great athlete myself I have often wondered what factors go into making someone like Usain Bolt such a great champion. Obviously there is a certain natural talent; but surely there are plenty of people born with talent who never make it to the top.

Perhaps the most vital determining factor in sport as in life in general seems simply to be

The great Billy Jean King by her willpower often beat more talented opponents.

the will to win. This is what makes an athlete push himself to train harder and better than all other competitors, and at the end of the day the difference between first and second place comes down to willpower. A great example is the tennis legend Billy Jean King who regularly beat opponents who she admitted were often quicker and more skillful than she was simply because she was more determined to win.

What is Willpower?
Willpower is the ability to overcome laziness and procrastination, and the ability to control or reject unnecessary or harmful impulses. It is the inner power to overcome resistance. It is generally accompanied by self-discipline, which often involves the rejection of immediate satisfaction in order to gain something better and longer lasting.

Practical Benefits of Willpower:
Apart from being a critical factor in sporting success what other areas of life benefit from strong willpower and self-discipline?

• Academic Success
• Personal Relationships
• Self-esteem
• Overcoming harmful habits and addictions
• Weight loss
• Honesty
• Financial Success

According to studies it has been found that children who, after the age of ten, were able to delay gratification were

• More socially competent
• More academically competent
• Better able to cope with frustration
• More able to resist temptation
• More verbally fluent
• More attentive
• Able to cope with stress more naturally

Interestingly it has been suggested that willpower can be depleted and sometimes needs to be replenished through sleep, self-affirmation exercises and positive emotional experiences.
People with strong willpower typically display greater powers of attention and endurance, they can more easily overcome aversion, dislikes and irritations, and show more fortitude in suffering.

The Importance of Concentration:
According to Swami Swivananda of the Divine Life Society the key is often concentration:

The practice of concentration is of great help to strengthen the will. You must have an intelligent understanding of the habits of the mind-how it wanders and how it operates. You must know easy and effective methods to control the wandering of the mind. The practice of thought-culture, the practice of concentration, the practice of memory-culture, are all allied subjects. All these are of immense help in the practice of will-culture. You cannot draw a line of demarcation to denote where the practice of concentration or memory-culture ends and the practice of will-culture begins.

Meditation

 

He also says:

“One should patiently hear the words of others even though they are not interesting and charming. He should not fret and fume. Patient hearing develops will and wins the hearts of others. One should do actions or tasks that are uninteresting. This also develops willpower. The actions that are not interesting will become interesting after sometime.”

There seems to be a lot of wisdom in these words and if you have ever tried listening to older relatives you should be able to appreciate how hard it is to “hear patiently!”

10 ways to develop your Willpower

Here are 10 practical exercises for developing willpower and self-discipline:

1. Give up your seat for someone who needs it; do it as an exercise in overcoming the resistance of your mind and body (not just out of politeness).
2. If there are dishes in the sink that need washing or putting in the dishwasher do it now.
3. When you come home from work don’t sit down in front of the TV straight away, change, shower, or do something useful first.
4. If you know your body needs exercise just go and do it.
5. Give up a habit for a week; eg take tea or coffee without sugar.
6. Plan what you are going to do tomorrow; planning and knowing where you are going helps build willpower.
7. When others are gossiping about someone or something don’t join in and if possible stand up for the other person.
8. If you want to eat something unhealthy don’t do it; either have a drink or do some exercise instead.
9. Have positive thoughts about yourself and say them over and over; eg “every day in every way I’m getting better and better”. (From Head Strong by Tony Buzan).
10. Stick to your guns, work at overcoming your natural laziness; work hard, play hard, and don’t be swayed by others into doing things that are not in your interest.

Willpower one of the Key Elements for Success in any Field

The Benefits of greater willpower:

Possessing greater willpower may not turn you into an Olympic athlete or an academic genius; but in lots of ways it will help you in your everyday life. Above all, perhaps, it will give you a greater sense of being in control of yourself so that you can find a degree of inner peace and strength no matter what is going on around you. Please feel free to comment on this post.

Here is a short video sequence on the practice of willpower in everyday life. Click below: Willpower Video.

If you want to know more you can listen to this audiobook on the subject of Willpower:
Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength

Share this:

Following on from yesterday’s blog on hurricanes and their causes, today’s blog looks specifically at Hurricane Irene and the devastation it has wrought along its path.

Entrance to a Subway Station

Hurricane Irene was a North Atlantic tropical cyclone that caused extensive damage across the Caribbean before making landfall in North Carolina, on the East Coast of the United States. It passed through New York City with relatively limited damage, but caused devastating flooding damage further inland in parts of New York State and Vermont. Irene dissipated over Quebec on 29 August 2011 and entered Atlantic Canada as a post-tropical storm.

Hurricane Irene 6 days ago

The ninth named storm, the first hurricane, and the first major hurricane of the 2011
season, Irene formed from a well-defined Atlantic tropical wave that showed signs of organisation east of the Lesser Antilles. It developed atmospheric convection and a closed cyclonic circulation centre, prompting the National Hurricane Centre to issue advanced safety warnings on the tropical cyclone late on 20 August. Subsequent convective organisation occurred as it passed the Leeward Islands, and by 21 August, it moved very close to Saint Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. The next day Irene made landfall at hurricane strength near Puerto Rico, where high winds and intermittent torrents caused significant property damage.

After crossing the Turks and Caicos Islands, the hurricane quickly strengthened into a Category 3 major hurricane while passing through The Bahamas, leaving behind a trail of extensive structural damage in its wake. Curving toward the north, Irene skirted past Florida with its outer bands producing tropical-storm-force winds.

Fallen Tree

It made landfall over Eastern North Carolina’s Outer Banks on the morning of 27 August and moved along south eastern Virginia affecting the Hampton Roads region. Hurricane Irene made a second U.S. landfall at Little Egg Inlet in New Jersey at 5:35 a.m. on 28 August, becoming the first hurricane to make landfall in the state since 1903. Irene was downgraded to a tropical storm as it made its third U.S. landfall in the Coney Island area of Brooklyn, New York, at approximately 9:00 a.m on 28 August. The most extensive damage within the United States occurred in the Catskill Mountains of New York State and in Vermont, which suffered disastrous flash floods.

Irene's Trail of Destruction

Hurricane Irene prompted a death toll of at least 25 across eight states of the USA.
States of Emergency were declared in Virginia, New York, New Jersey,  Delaware, Connecticut, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Maryland, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire.  The East Coast braced for the storm for days, stocking up on emergency supplies, evacuating low-lying regions, and filling tubs with water.

Throughout its path, Irene caused widespread destruction and deaths; monetary losses to the Caribbean could be as high as US$3.1 billion according to preliminary estimates. Early damage estimates in the US are about $7 billion.

It is likely that we in the UK will feel the after-effects of the hurricane in about 10 days after it has passed close to Iceland, but that time it will have lost most of its deadly destructive power.

Please click on the links below to see video footage of the hurricane :
covered bridge collapses
Main Street becomes a Raging Torrent
Monster Waves
Building Slammed into Boardwalk.

You can find out more information about Hurricane Irene and the latest weather news around the world from www.weather.com by clicking on this link.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1400167892/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=jsvisions-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1400167892

Share this:

Aerial view of Hurricane Katrina

I must confess to having complained a bit recently about the weather this summer, or more accurately the lack of actual sunny days. However, the weather we have had is nothing compared to the hurricane conditions currently being experienced on the eastern coast of the USA as Hurricane Irene continues to wreak havoc with heavy rains and strong winds, leaving at least seven people dead in its wake and paralyzing ground and air traffic. In this blog article I will try to answer some of the fundamental questions people have about hurricanes.

What is a hurricane? Continue reading →

Share this: