Wind and Weather

As an English person I am, of course, accustomed to talking about the weather, and am also familiar with the fact that people who live in places which have real extremes of weather mock us for thinking we have extreme weather...

But this week was pretty exciting . ..

We've had some very wild and windy weather.

Storm Imogen hit the UK, and while we weren't in the worst hit areas, we were forecast to have winds gusting at up to 62 mph, and while I don't have a weather station on my roof so can't be sure, I suspect we got them - it was certainly very wild and noisy,and there were a lot of floods, although fortunately none which directly affected me, although a couple of colleagues had to make detours around fallen trees and blocked roads.

Things have calmed down a little now, but it's still breezy and wet. Although we have had one very bright and frosty morning.

Time Off

I've got some time off work, but I'm not going away,partly as I'm not organised enough, partly because I'm too tired and just want to unwind, and partly because I spent all my money on having work done to my house.

However,I do have various fun things lined up for my holiday, and I'm also aiming to get things done round the house - for instance, buying and putting up curtain rails (and curtains), and unpacking more of the books.

On Monday I got to spend the day with one of my oldest, closest friends. We agreed to meet up in Cardiff, which both of us could readily get to by train, and I was looking forward to a relaxing day pootling round the city centre, perhaps visiting the pier and looking at nice views of the sea.

It didn't work out quite that way.

To start with, it was a very, very, wet morning, and the traffic was absolutely horrendous, which meant that despite having left myself about twice a much extra time as I thought I would need to get to the station, I missed the train. (I worked out, during the unexpected spare time I had while waiting for the next train, that I had averaged 11 m.p.h on my drive in...)

Sadly there's only one train an hour, so I arrived an hour later than planned, and it turned out that it was wet and windy in Cardiff, too.

However, we walked from the station to the Wales Millennium Centre, which is an absolutely beautiful building, not just the stunning front, but the rest of the exterior, which features lots of (presumably Welsh!) slate

No sign of Captain Jack Harkness or Torchwood, sadly. Clearly that perception filter is still working! 

We had lunch at the Millennium centre, (very nice tapas for J and I, and wearable broccoli and yogurt for A (J's little boy, who is 6 months old. He is approaching solid food with enthusiasm. Fortunately J had brought him a change of clothes!)

We then went back into the city centre, where we found a rather nice clock, complete with 3 (presumably blind?) mice..

And we got rained on some more, and then had coffee and cakes, and there was a lot of chatting, and lot of baby-appreciation, and generally, despite the late start and the nasty weather, a good time was had.

I am British: Hear me talk about the weather!

We have not been having sub-zero temperatures, or airport-closing snow, as is happening elsewhere, but we have been having some horrendous weather. Massive amounts of rain and wind.

I'm glad I don't live on the coast - this picture is Sennen Cove in West Cornwall.

Picture from 'I love Cornwall' on facebook

There is flooding in lots of coastal areas, and around Gloucester.  The Somerset levels are flooded.

Here, we've had pouring rain, which is unpleasant to be out in, and wind, and (yesterday) a fairly dramatic hailstorm - we had a ceiling leaking in one of our offices at work, which was no fun for the person who got an unexpected cold shower at her desk. We couldn't find any obvious holes or missing tiles - it may be down to the wind driving rain in, rather than an actual 'leak' - we'll have to see once it's checked out properly.

I walked down to the paper shop this morning - this is the little stream which goes under the bridge at the end of the road.

 And this is what it usually looks like (both taken from pretty much the same point!)

Apparently we are due for yet more rain and high winds over the next few days. My heart goes out to all those who have suffered, or are facing, flooded homes - I've been there, albeit to a fairly limited degree, and it's horrible.

I'm really hoping that things will improve soon.

And meanwhile I am counting my blessings - that I have not (yet, at least) suffered power cuts or flooding, and that my family are all safe, and my house appears to be weatherproof (at least, so far!)

A Wet Weekend

I spent this weekend in Devon, at my parent's house (although not actually visiting them, as they are not there) It was relaxing, and I enjoyed the weekend, although I should have liked a little less rain.

On Saturday morning, I went (via a rather roundabout route) to the seaside. The roundabout route was because of one road closure - I knew this, and went so far as to check an actual paper map before setting off. However, I didn't know that there were also some other roads which were also closed but which (presumably because they were smaller roads, and had been closed for ages so anyone relevant, such as local people, already knew about them) there were no signs about. So my journey involved rather more in the way of detours than I'd planned.  But given I had no timetable to stick to  and the scenery is pretty, so it was not really a hardship.

It was a grey day, with intermittent drizzle, but it wasn't too cold, so  enjoyed a walk along the beach.

There were a few surfers (although I think the surf must have been a bit disappointing) but other than the occasional dog-walker I had the beach pretty much to myself.

I spent some time peering into rock-pools, where there were lots of sea-anemones, and snails, and tiny little shrimpy things. I also found lots of shells - tiny, red-gold scallop shells, and mussels, and fingernail shells.

Further down the beach, beyond the rocks, it was sandy, and the lack of people meant that the patterns left by the outgoing tide were undisturbed, and beautiful.

On Sunday, it was much greyer and damper, so I enjoyed a nice long lie-in (It was disappointing not to have my parents there, as usually, when I visit, one of them brings me a cup of tea in the morning, provided I stay in bed long enough)

A little later, when the rain stopped, I went for a walk near the village - it was rather muddy and damp, but very pretty!

I then went through the woods - the path was mostly mud, covered with a thick layer of beech leaves and mast.

There was also the occasional fallen tree, and the woods themselves were a contrast of green and gold and black, as some trees had lost more of their leaves than others.

The walk ended with a climb up a steep, sheep-filled field. Which came as a bit of a surprise to me, as I'd forgotten the last bit of the walk!

And it started to rain once again, just as i got back to the house, which gave me a good excuse for sitting inside and reading Terry Pratchett for a bit, before heading home.

All in all, a very nice, low-key weekend.

A Dark and Stormy Night

(It was also a dark and stormy day, but that is less dramatic!)

Yesterday was incredibly wet - there have been a lot of floods, although (at least so far) they have mainly been west of me. ( BBC news have some pictures - both Bath and Bradford on Avon, are very close to me)

This morning, driving in to work, wasn't bad, although there was surface water in various places, but as the day wore on, it got a lot more windy and wet. At around quarter to five, one of my co-workers came in to say she thought I might want to know that one of the big bins in the carpark had just been blown across the car park and hi my car, and she was very sorry, but although she'd seen it, she hadn't been able to get to it to stop it. (I must say, I think this was probably a good thing. They're pretty big, metal bins and while I'd obviously rather my car didn't get hit, it's better than someone getting hurt. It looks as though there's a big scratch on the front of the car, but no real damage (it missed the headlights, at least) so I'm relatively sanguine about it (although that might change when I can see it in daylight!)

By the time I set of to drive home it was raining quite heavily and was very windy, and it was gusty wind, which I think is worse, as it's so unpredictable. My drive home is mainly along country roads, and there were a lot of small branches and other debris on the road. About half way home I found that the turning I usually take to get home was closed. (I suspect there was a tree down, blocking it. all that was visible were some blue flashing lights, and several very wet, cold looking police officers, trying to help people turn round, and I decided that it would not be helpful to start asking them questions about what the problem was.

I decided that it would not be a good idea to do what I'd usually do when that road is backed up, which would be to dive off and go through some of the smaller lanes, so I ended up having to take a rather long way home, and with the wind, and lightening, and rain, it really wasn't a restful drive.

I'm hoping that it will get better - not least because I am supposed to be getting a train up to London for the day on Saturday, and if it carries on like this half the track will be underwater (there are already several stretches of railway closed or on reduced services, although so far they are further towards Devon)!

I have to go to the far side of Bath tomorrow, for a meeting, so I think I shall have to leave extra time for the drive, in case of detours...

On the plus side, my house is wind-and weather-proof, and mercifully un-flooded (I had a flood 5 or 6 years ago, and although it was caused by improper drainage on the council's neighbouring land, and since they put in a new drain, it hasn't happened again, but I always get a bit stressed when we have a lot of heavy rain, just in case.)

Family, and Fun Things

I arrived in deepest Devon on Tuesday night, to help prepare for my sister's wedding on Friday. The weather is pretty poor, with lots of rain, but other than that, things are good.

My sisters and their respective partners, plus my step-niece-to-be all arrived on Tuesday and by the time I got there, were all busily engaged in making origami flowers. This is the first time my (younger) sister's boyfriend has met us en masse, but he hasn't panicked and run away yet!

On Wednesday, the party was augmented by my brother and his girlfriend, so we now have a VERY full house (my parents are sleeping in their caravan at the bottom of the garden!)

As lots of both extended families live quite a distance away, several of them have come down early and are incorporating the wedding into a summer holiday, and on Wednesday morning my cousin S, with her husband and 2 children arrived at the house to see everyone, and then E and her partner, and I, joined them for a trip to the local zoo, which is very small, but fun, especially if you have the foresight to take a 3 year old child with you!

I also enjoyed playing with my new camera, to take pictures of some of the animals (and of course of the 3 and one year old cousins...)

In the evening we had the rehearsal for the wedding, and discussions about how and where to take pictures if, as seems likely, it pours with rain.

Today has been entirely taken up with preparations - the hall has been decorated (with a nautical theme) tables set up, (much consultation of the plan required) wine and soft drinks ferried to the hall, flowers collected, crockery and cutlery laid out, and many, many other things! My mum finished constructing the cake (which has delicate icing 'sails' all around it)

The ladies of the party had their nails done, in relays, and there was a last minute dash to pick up yje buttonholes, and then the evening was spent making the bouquets for the bride and bridesmaids.

It's been a long day, but I **think**  everything is in hand. (except of course the weather, which is out of our control. We have emergency umbrellas.

Bank Holiday Fun

This weekend was a bank holiday, and I had pondered whether I  might be able to meet, and perhaps go sailing with, my sister and soon-to-be-brother-in-law, but it turned out thet they weren't going to be home, so instead I arranged to go to Devon and spend the weekend with my parents.

And it then turned out that both of my sisters were planning to do the same, so it ended up with all 3 of us (plus K's fiance, C) being there for the weekend, which was lovely.

It traditionally pours with rain over the august bank holiday, and this one was no exception - I drove down after I finished work on Friday evening, and the drive was NOT fun - lots of very heavy rain, standing water, and, of course, the kind of drivers who don't realise that rain makes a difference to driving....

However, once I arrived, there was food, and wine, and company, and lots of catching up to do.

On Saturday there was more rain, and then during the afternoon all of us other than my dad went in to Barnstaple to look at possible dresses for E&I to wear in out role as bridesmaids, and for my mum to wear in her capacity of mother of the bride. We didn't buy anything, but we did quite a lot of trying on. (actually, most of it was getting my mum to try stuff on.)

On Sunday, K&C went to church (On the basis that it seems only polite to go occasionally, to the church where you wish to get married) while the rest of us had a nice long lie-in, then we headed out in order to meet up with my uncle and aunt, who live just down the road from my parents.

We all met up at the  Hunters Inn,where we had a pub lunch (and some rather nice beer) followed by a short walk down the valley to Heddons Mouth.

The walk takes one along near the little river, down to a tiny, pebbled beach, framed by steep cliffs.

It's beautiful - and after a wet morning, the sun came out, and the sea and sky were both blue and white and windswept and beautiful.

Walking abck up the valley, the youunger half of the party crossed the river using stepping-stones, and the older half stayed on the same side of the river they started on, and walked back that way - until we met up at a small, Billy-Goats-Gruff style bridge, and walked the last stretch back in company.

It was a very nice afternoon.

In fact, it was a very nice weekend, despite the rain.

In Which There Are Many Little Things....

I've had something of a stressful week, despite it having been so short (there was a bank holiday on Monday) and stress did the stuff it always does, and left me not sleeping well, and feeling nauseous, which is no fun whatsoever. And the knowledge that things are (almost) never as bad as you expect really doesn't help.

Anyway, for various reasons I was very much looking forward to the week being over. On Friday I was in court all day. It was a not-too-difficult day for me, as I had counsel, but a long day in a stuffy court room is rarely much fun, especially when timing leads to a certain emptiness, at the point in the day where one usually finds lunch...

However, after we had finished, it was suggested that we go for a drink, as one of our number was celebrating a birthday, and besides, I was told, "it's fizzy Friday" (one per week!) so i found myself, at around 5.30, sitting out under a large parasol, sipping chilled prosecco and fraternising with my erstwhile opponents. I’m not in the habit of drinking champagne or prosecco at 5.30 in the afternoon, even on a Friday, but I have to say it is the kind of thing one could become accustomed to, fairly easily…!

Of course, one of the disadvantages of slurping fizz at 5.30 is that you then have to find something else to do afterwards, while you wait for the fizz to wear off in order to drive home. Happily, another local lawyer was holding a party to celebrate 20 years in practice, so we went to congratulate her, and socialise for a while. Not at all what I had planned for my Friday evening, but definitely a pleasant end to the week. And when I got home, it was to find an unexpected free box of chocolates on the doorstep, which I think we can all agree is the type of thing which improves any day no end! (The chocolates are a somewhat belated apology from the chocolate company, for having inserted a big chunk of plastic sheeting into a chocolate I had at Christmas)

So not a bad day, all in all.

And then, it started to rain. It hasn’t rained for several weeks, and everything smelled of freshness and wet earth and spring, and a new start.

Today has been a quiet day – I woke up to the news that the referendum, on AV has resulted in a ‘No’ vote, which does not surprise me, but which does disappoint me. Other than that,  I have done dull things, such as laundry and hoovering the floors, and topping up the oil in the car, and taking cardboard and plastic to the recycling place. I have also been to the garden centre to buy various seedlings – tomatoes, beans and so on, as, as usual, I have either been too late to plant seeds or have planted them and seen them develop into healthy slug-food. I am hoping that the plants I have now bought will prove too large to be easily eaten by slugs, even the Super-Slugs which seem to inhabit my garden. I haven’t planted them yet, as I got side-tracked by weeding, and it then started to rain, but hopefully tomorrow will be fine for long enough to do so.

The day ended, happily, with Doctor Who and Pirates, and a little sneak preview of Mr Gaiman’s episode, which airs next week. I have to say that this week’s episode, while it had its moments, will not, I think, go down as one of the great episodes. It was fun, but not deep. 

The Thaw!

It appears that we are no longer suffering the long winter, and will not, after all, be reduced to twisting hay into sticks to burn in order to survive.

The flowers that bloom in the spring (tra la) are not yet blooming, but the snow is melting, the upside-down 4WD wrapped in police tape has been removed from the ditch at the end of the road, the giant snowman is just a heap of dirty slush, and we seem to be having rain rather than snow.

It makes a change.

The roads are full of potholes from frost damage, and no doubt we will all pay the price in Council Tax in due course.

I, as I mentioned in the last post, have been buying rail tickets. I'm going to London at the end of February to visit relatives, go to the theatre and see some exhibitions.

So, I needed to but train tickets. Which ought to be straight forward but isn't. Bouncing around from one website to another to find one which (a) admits the relevent train exisits (b) doesn't add on massive 'booking fees' (c) is working. At one point the ticket I was trying to buy disappered between my putting it in the basket and the site letting me move to the paying stage.

I decided to call South West Trains and buy over the phone instead. Except, it turns out that just because a ticket is shown for a certain train at a certain price on their wensite, doesn't mean you can by it off them if you phone. Apparently they are each allocated a certain number of tickets and they are not interchangeable between phone sales and online sales. And the ticket prices shown by National Rail enquiries are not the same as the ones shown by South West Trains are not the same as the ones shown by TheTrainLine.

Shopping around and faffing around I found 1st class return tickets for £34. (Bizarrly, 1st class was £1 more each way than standard, hence the 'luxury'. Although I think it will be a smallish, slow train so probably the only advantage will be a less crowded & therefore quiter carriage)

Had I bought the first "cheapest tickets available" offered me it would have been £56 standard class. (and How hard would it be just to have accurate, honest information up front? Oh well.

Irriatingly, as tickets are only available 12 weeks in advance, I couldn't buy tickets for the Amanda Palmer / Jason Webley / EvelynEvelyn show at the same time: I shall have to try to remember to book them as soon as we're within 12 weeks, to secure cheap tickets.

Which of course, reminds me of the exciting (if not unexpected) news that Ms Amanda Fucking Palmer, and Mr Neil Freaking Gaiman have announced their engagement!
I think that Non Birding Bill (here)

or maybe the Birdchick (here)

Have said it best... Lovely, happy news for a Friday evening.

In Which There is Rain, and Seaside, and Rainbows (but no kittens)

My parents have just (last weekend) returned home having spent the past 7 weeks travelling around New Zealand, a trip which I should like to take some day, and I had arranged to go down to spend the weekend with them, and to welcome them back home.

It was a rainy afternoon as I drove down to Devon, and by the time I arrived, at around 5, it was dark, too. Living alone, I forget how nice it is to come 'home' to a warm, well lit house and have someone offer hugs and coffee!

The evening was spent catching up on conversation, hearing a little about their trip.

Saturday turned out to be intermittently very wet indeed, but having gone to see the sea we decided to go for a short walk despite the fact that it was raining by the time we got there (all of 10 miles from the house!)

We decided not to paddle, however.

After our short but bracing walk and some time spent in our families favourite method of socialisation (which involves everyone sitting in the same room, each absorbed in his or her own book) we cooperated to preduce a delicious meal of roast lamb with all it's tradional accompaniments, followed by a lemon layer pudding. Mmmmm.

This was followed by lots and lots of photos of New Zealand. Did I mention how much I would like to go there? As a nation, it appears to have more than it's fair share of scenery. (And sheep)

Glaciers and beautiful beaches, all within spitting distance of one another.

Sunday turned out to be an even wetter day, so we abandoned any thought of going for another walk.

Sadly, after lunch it was time for me to head back home. I very quickly found myself driving not through pouring rain as at their home, but through a surreal landscape with bright sunshine on one side, and black clouds and rain on the other. It was rainbows all the way! Even when I got stuck behind a large and slow-moving truck, the combination of surface water on the road and the sunlight meant there were rainbows in the tyre tracks.

The rainbows were some of the brightest I have ever seen. I stopped to take a few pictures - there was a glorious double rainbow as I came into Somerset - the inner bow exraordinarily vivid, and even the outer one as clear as most rainbows.

A little later, as I crossed the Levels, coming towards Glastonbury, there was a futher rainbow, and I spent a little time watching the flocks of starling wheeling across the sky.

The rivers and rhynes (drainage ditches) are all incredibly full - I imagine that the moors will flood in the next few weeks, unless it stops raining. Fortunately, the cattle are not generally grazed on the moors at this time of year.

It was, despite the weather, a lovely weekend.

In which I Survive Shopping

Ooops. No blogging for a while. Mostly because nothing very thrilling has been happening.

The last week seems to have consisted mostly of work, and of looing out at the rain. I am starting to wonder what the going rate for gopher wood and pitch is.

This weekend, for the first time in awhile, I had no visitors, no plans to go anywhere and no gig to go to. I did, however, gird up my loins and head into Bath in order to do those bits og Christmas shopping which can't be done online.

I've been involved in conversations elsewhere about the holidays, and not doing things just from a sense of obligation, so it is relevant to say that I enjoy Christmas. For me, it's always been about spending time with family, and I am lucky enough to have a family whom I love and (perhaps less common) get along well with. I also enjy finding suitable gifts for people - giving things to people can be very pleasurable, if you know the person well and can have the fun of finding something which is right for them, and will give them pleasure.

Those elements I enjoy.

The shopping, however. . . . .

I had hoped that as it is still November, it wouldn't be too manic. I had also planned to go into town early, however that part of the plan was scuppered by the need to wait in for a delivary. Still, at least I was able to get the train in so I didn't have to worry about driving or parking, which when I arrived and saw how packed it was, I could see had been a good choice.

Having a good idea of what I wanted (and a low tolerance for crowds and shopping, particularly together) I only stayed for an hour or two, but it was clear that many people were there for the full day.

I can't remeber last time I saw so many people looking so stressed and miserable.

I managed to find suitable gifts for most of the people I wanted to buy things for, and also had a very soothing time in Mr B's (a *very* good independent bookshop, which will even wrap your purchases, in brown paper and string and selaing wax, if you wish), and a tasty time in the cheese shop. (I wasn't shopping for cheese, but for the very nice confits and chutneys which they sell)

With any luck, I shall now be able to get anything further I want online, and shall be able to steer well clear of any major conurbation until after the madness is over.

Today was much more relaxed, and involved cooking - A big vat of (vegetarian) spaghetti bolognese (to freeze) and a venison stew which is sending delicious smells through the house even as I type. In fact, as it is so miserable outside, I decided to make some dumplings to go with it - should be yummy, and just the thing for a cold, wet, dank November evening.

I shall spend the evening writing my first batch of christmas cards, (this year, I'm sending cards only to those I want to send to, not to anyone (except a couple of very elderly relatives) just because I "ought" to. It occured to me that there are people who send me a card every year, and I feel obligated to send one back (or at least, slightly guilty if I don't) but whom I've not otherwise seen, heard or spoken to for years. It's pointless. So this year, actual friends and people I want to connect with only.

Sometimes, the simplest pleasures are the best. I have been getting a good deal of pleasure from watching Tybalt trying to crawl into a paper bag less than 1/3 of his body size. Simple pleasures.....

And in about half an hour, I shall be sitting down to a delicious, hearty venison stew and a glass of red wine. Another simple pleasure.

Thoughts about the rain.

The last couple of days have been very wet and wild, although nothing compared with what has been happening in Cumbria - my heart goes out to the people whose homes have been flooded, and of course to the family and colleagues and friends of P.C. Bill Barker.

While the flooding at my home was nothing like like as bad at that faced by the people in Cockermouth, or those in Gloucester last year, but the sheer helplessness, the long drawn out time it takes to sort eveything out (rotting carpet, anyone?) and the sense of fear every time it rains hard, for years afterwards is much the same.

I have finally (after 3 flood-free years) got to the point where I no longer wake up in a cold sweat when there is a rain storm.

I just hope that those affected now will be able to put their lives back together, too.

It Was A Dark & Stormy Night....

Well, it was.



Actually, it was a wild and windy day, and a wilder night. Driving home from work last night I was driving through rain which was falling horizontally, mixed with whirling leaves and the occasional twig.



It was frightening to realise how little concession most drivers were making to the conditions - lots of tailgating and so on, despite standing water, poor visibility and lots of pther hazards. *sigh*

Relieved to note that no water has come into the house, however, which gives me encoragement to belive that the flood-risk really was fixed, when the work was done 2 years ago.

A silver lining to all the black clouds, perhaps...

Happy We Made The Colonies Independent and Let Them Spell Colour, Axe and Aluminium with Missing Letters Day*

*(c) Mr Neil Gaiman

Being a Brit in America on Independence Day could have been problematic.
After all, we lost. And some of us (and he knows who he is) are not quite over that yet.

In the morning, I went to the Walker Art Center, and was happy to find that as it was the 1st Saturday of the month it was free to enter.

As it was the 4th of July, there were also various activities going on, and the grass around the centre was full of tents selling hotdogs and burgers, there were hoards of hula-hooping kids, decorated bicycles and many other traditional celebrations of the revolution.

I enjoyed the museum.

I particularly admired the wallpaper which they had in one of the lobbies.

The views of the city, both directly, and reflected in the windows, were dramatic.

I also liked the big Zorb balls with grass growing in them, although I don't recall the name of the artist.

The jars of decomposed and disinterred lemons were fun, too.

I had intended to then go and spend some time in the sculpture garden, but unfortunately it became a little damp,

and then it got really quite wet.
Having carelessley omitted to take a diving suit with me when I left the hotel in the morning, I was forced to return to the hotel to change. It was unnerving to discover how few of Minneapolis's drivers seemed to feel that torrential rain and masses of surface water should affect (for instance) the amount of stopping distance which they allowed themselves. Still, it did mean that I reached the hotel with a new appreciation of the sweetness of life.

After wringing out my trousers and drying my hair, I made my way to Gayle's where I met many of her friends and relatives (none of whose names I am able to recall) and have beer and barbeque and fireworks and sparklers, with the kind of long and relaxed conversations that happen at the best of such events.

And I decided that, on the whole, the loss of the American colonies was something I could learn to live with...

In Which it Rains (But there is tea, so that's OK)

I spent the weekend in Devon, staying with my parents. The past week has been a week of blazing sunshine and I was hoping, in despite of the weather forecast, that at least some of the weekend might be similar.


My hopes were unmet.

I arrived at about 7 p.m. on friday, and it started to spit with rain just as I pulled in to the gateway. I left at about 4.30 on Sunday afternoon, just as the rain started to clear. Over the weekend, there were occasional periods when it stopped raining, but never enough to make it worth while going out for a walk or to the beach, which was a shame (Last weekend, when my sister visited them, it was so sunny they were at the beach until after 8 p.m....)

However, despite disappointing weather I enjoyed the weekend. The luxury of having someone else cook meals, bring me tea in the morning, and so forth would make it worth while even without the added pleasure of, y'know, seeing the family.



And I spent some time wandering around the garden, between rain showers, looking at bumble-bees and flowers.




We went out, one evening, so my parents could do some bell-ringing. My bellringing is on hold at present, as hurty shoulder means I can only do it one-handed, and I know from experience that that doesn't end well, but I went along in anticipation of the pub-going part of the evening, and spent some time hanging around in an atmospheric graveyard, and finding a rather charming little skull on a tombstone inside the church.

I love how the stone mason has put in the anatomicly correct 'seams' on the skull, then added a little backwards ear.


The tomb it comes from is from around 1750. It's odd that you get these skulls for a (relatively) short period in the early to mid 18th Century, and not much either earlier or later. There were also some early 19th Century memorials to the local gentry, who seemed to make a habit of marrying late, and on multiple occasions (the men) and dying young (the women & children) One gentleman was married 3 times, and had 9 children, yet when he died in 1817 he was succeeded by his greatnephew, which suggests that none of the children (or at leat none of the 6 sons) could have survived.

Back at the house, it rained some more, and I watched the Goldfinches on the birdfeeder, and the rain on the flowers.

And although nothing happened over the weekend, I think it was practically perfect.

In which, for a change, it rains.

For a change, this is not a post about snow! Although , having said that, there is still a fair amount around. Monday morning, driving into work was an interesting experience – it was misty, and the fields were still covered in snow, so everything appeared in shades of white and grey – ghosts of trees and sheep and cattle drifting though the rain.

It was an interesting day, in a not very interesting at all fashion…I spent much of it dealing with bureaucratic nonsense – primarily involving trying to condense and re-word information which has already been provided , to fit a slightly different format for a slightly different purpose. It’s not that I don’t see the need to keep an eye on how public money is spent; I just wish it could be done a little more efficiently – possibly, and I realise I am going out on a limb here, by 2 different departments of the same organisation actually speaking to one another! I realise it is a little extreme, but they could give it a try for a little while, and just see whether it works. In this particular instance it relates to a case which is an absolute train wreck from start to finish I don’t believe that it is a coincidence that the day we got snowed in and all local transport ground to a halt was the day I was supposed to be holding a meeting on this case. A meeting, I might add, which took me about 5 weeks to arrange. (And when I rearranged it as a teleconference one of the participants’ phone line came down halfway through the conversation.) It’s not paranoia when fate really is out to get you.

Having been threatened with further snow I was a little anxious about what I would find on Tuesday morning – however, despite the dire warnings from the BBC I found not snow, but rain, when I got up. It was interesting to me that despite it having rained for the best part of 24 hours, there was still a lot of snow lying on the pavements verges and fields. I suppose that this shouldn’t be a surprise – it’s been pretty cold, and the snow had had time to freeze and harden, but it is not what I was expecting!

It turns out that a side effect of all this rain and frost is flooding. Having seen that the river below Farleigh Castle had burst it’s banks (happily the water was in fields, not in anyone’s home, or blocking roads, although elsewhere roads were closed and no doubt homes flooded too) I was worried until I could get home – my house has had a history of flooding, and although it hasn’t happened recently, I can’t help but worry whenever it rains heavily.

The problem which I had stemmed from a culvert above and behind the house, which had a tendency to overflow and flood my home, and those of 3 of my neighbours, following heavy rain. After we were flooded for the third time, and I had proved to the local council that the source of the trouble was on their land, they put in a new drain, and in the mean time I had a wall built around the garden to prevent (or at least slow down) the incursions into my garden. I was lucky - the worst flooding I had was in my "conservatory" (for which read small lean-to made mostly of glass) - enough came into the main part of the house to require replacement of all the living room carpet (the first time) and laminate flooring (2nd and 3rd time) but not enough to damage or destroy my books, or soft furnishings. Losing a freezer full of food is annoying but it wasn't something which I was emotionally attached to. And yes, I have moved all my most precious books onto higher shelves, just in case!

I was deeply relived to find that my house remains dry and safe. But I think I am ready for it to be spring, now.

Rain!

It was a shock to the system to be rained on a little the following morning, although, as we were attending a Christmas Fayre in the morning it did add a little seasonal feel to be drizzled upon. The fayre was run by ex-pats (mainly British & German) and had a ‘village fete’ feel to it – tombolas and cake stalls etc, plus also several Turkish traders selling scarves and jewellery. We were going in order to support some of K&C’s neighbours, who were running the cake stand. We indulged in German apfeltorte, to sustain us as it was over an hour since breakfast, and some bread pudding (as marching rations for our road trip) then had a very extended lunch, at a restaurant on the end of the beach, which therefore has 270 degree views over the bay. . .

For much of the bay the water is incredibly shallow and we could watch several fishermen wading out to their pots, way out to sea but still only knee deep in the water. I guess it’s important to know where the channels are.