Three hundred columns filed and finished and I’m still going strong.

The problem with writing a weekly column is not as you would think, choosing an idea. It’s choosing an idea that is suitable for a family paper.

You always have to fit your column into an allocated space, no more, no less, no exception. And finally, you should be able to spell and have a reasonable command of English grammar.

I had thought that this week we should take a look at global warming.

I had been thinking of this idea for some time, but there was a possibility of a slight snag on the horizon.

In fact, to be pedantic, at that time, the slight snag hadn’t quite yet reached the horizon.

The problem in question was an asteroid.

Apparently, there was a faint possibility of this rock making landfall on us.

So I decided to wait for a couple of days before writing the column, as I saw no point in writing something for an audience that might have been flattened before Thursday.

However, the ’rockette’ was really quite small.

It was about double the size of the London Shard and would sail past Earth with three million miles to spare.

No problem.

In actual fact, even if it had bumped into us, the odds were always in our favour.

I was listening to the wireless the other day and this scientist said that only 2% of the Earth’s surface was populated. I was surprised that she didn’t add that the other 98% was either melting or on fire.

Anyway, global warming.

Can we really believe what they say, or is it all just fake news? Not an easy question to answer. There can be no doubt that the Earth’s weather patterns are changing.

When I was just a lad, the four seasons were certainly more clearly defined.

Summer was all deckchairs and horse trams, autumn gave us piles of leaves to drag our feet through and winter was frost and snow, Christmas decorations and rabbit pies. Then there was spring with Easter Eggs and Sunday school picnics.

Now, a lifetime later, weather-wise, we are only sure of one thing. Confusion.

Our seasons really are mixed-up and the whole world is upside down.

It only seems like a couple of tropical storms ago that no self-respecting multi-bedroom mansion with luxury, multi en-suite wet rooms, surrounded by acres of stone walls and cast iron gates, would be built without a wood-burning stove glowing expensively in every room.

Now I read that wood burning stoves are frowned upon and are likely to be banned.

The problem is that they give off too much carbon, which as we all know contributes to the dreaded global warming.

Meanwhile, in South America, the locals are destroying the Amazon rainforest at the rate of an area equal to the size of Wales every single day.

Some say that the fires occur naturally, but others are blaming developers and farmers who are clearing the land to make way for beef production and export crops such as palm oil.

Ironically, as far as I can gather, the wood that is cleared away is of no commercial use and is disposed of by burning.

Why can’t it be used to fuel a power station, or be made into chippings for wood-burning stoves?

There is no doubt that the polar icecaps are melting, sea levels are rising and there is equally no doubt that politicians and world leaders are reluctant to make the difficult decisions that could make a difference.

But we’ve worked hard, haven’t we? We deserve that new car.

And don’t forget that, this time, we’ve saved so much cash by leasing the latest model instead of buying that we can afford to fly business class to our Caribbean cruise.

Forget global warming for a couple of weeks.

A decade ago Pullyman - aka Michael Cowin - was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease, a condition that affects people in different ways. Michael discovered writing and Island Life is featuring some of his musings. Sometimes topical, sometimes nostalgic, read about life as seen through the eyes of Pullyman