| Brrr. It's cold. It feels like the coldest winter we have | | | | In those days they didn't have the benefit of |
| had here in the north of England for some years. | | | | greenhouses and the like, so it seems the vines were |
| Strange to say, though, this is in spite of all the talk | | | | grown in the open, just like at home. |
| of global warming. | | | | Today, I am told, it is almost impossible to grow |
| It strikes me as a bit odd that the Earth should be | | | | grapes so far north. It's too cold. |
| getting warmer, when I was told in school that it | | | | It seems much of the problem of global warming is |
| was thought that Earth had broken off the Sun, | | | | carbon dioxide in the upper atmosphere. It's |
| along with the other planets, and although the core | | | | apparently forming a layer of gas which is creating a |
| of the Earth was still very, very hot the crust was | | | | greenhouse effect up there, making everything on |
| getting cooler. Earth was slowly cooling down, and | | | | the Earth that much warmer. |
| would eventually be completely cold, they said. Surely | | | | But hang on a minute. I know it was a long time ago, |
| they couldn't have been wrong, could they? | | | | but when I was at school carbon dioxide was a |
| My daughter did a degree in archaeology, and I | | | | heavier than air gas. Has that changed too? Surely |
| remember hearing about Roman times, two thousand | | | | not. It's still used in some types of fire extinguishers. |
| years ago, when the Romans were in England. They | | | | If not, then how did the carbon dioxide get up there, |
| settled in, among other places, Newcastle, which is | | | | several miles above the surface of the Earth? |
| further north than here,. The Romans, it seemed, | | | | Oh, silly me. It must have got there when we got rid |
| were partial to a drop of vino with their lunch, but | | | | of all the chlorofluorocarbons that were in |
| the stuff didn't travel well from Rome, and it took an | | | | refrigerators and aerosol cans, a few years ago, |
| age to get to England, so they had to make their | | | | because that didn't make much difference to the |
| own wine, after first growing the grapes. | | | | temperature, did it? |