Looks like rain….. again!

sketch-1560966518858

Rain, some people never get any, others get monsoons. Here in temperate Britain we get our fair share but the South East gets less. Up here in the Midlands we usually have reasonable amounts and we rarely have hose pipe bans.

This year we had a really mild February followed by a wet and windy spell. Now in June the temperature is lower than usual and we are stuck under a low pressure area, so it keeps raining. Don’t expect to get enough vitamin D either. It’s overcast and grey.

Apparently the Jet Stream in the upper atmosphere if swinging backwards and forwards, sending Low pressure areas down riwards us or up from the bay if biscay. High pressure and a stable weather situation seem far away.

The weather in the east has been very bad for a change and there are floods in Lincolnshire. Rivers have burst their banks, and as a lot of the land is below sea level, the embankments and river edges are overflowing. Homes have been flooded. Life is interesting.

Out of touch

We have just come back from a very wet Yorkshire. We stayed in a lodge in the woods. It was very nice, but damp.

DSC_1984

There is a lake at the place where we stayed and we saw  ducks and geese with youngsters walking through the woodlands. The only shame is that they are going to cut down some of the trees so people can get WiFi. I’d rather go without it and keep the trees.

We drove out to Fountains Abbey and I tried to draw it but the rain was coming down and the ink pen ran. However we had some very nice food in an Italian restaurant by the side of the River Wharfe.

DSC_1995

Now I think I need an early night. I will try and catch up with WordPress over the next couple of days.

X

Raining

We haven’t had much rain lately but today it bucketed down, rain was falling so heavily it overwhelmed the gutters of the house and was pouring so fast it filled up two empty milk bottles outside the front door. There was hail mixed in with it. Small lumps of ice hitting your windows and bouncing over my tomato plants outside.

Rain storms seem fiercer than the gentle rain of heaven from Portia’s speech in Shakespeareof yesteryear. Now we have cloudbursts, like a sponge being wrung out. All the water dumped like being under a waterfall.

I don’t know about “singing in the rain” more like swimming in the rain!

X

Pink dawn

A rosy dawn this morning foretold rough weather later. We have had cold strong winds and hail showers! I feel sorry for the baby tomato and other plants we have outside. They should be hardened off by now but cold weather keeps coming back. We have also not had much rain over the last month. When we do get it we have heavy showers. Cloud bursts and bolts of lightning. Pink dawns ar harbingers of rough weather.

Keeping warm

_20190426_185157

My cats on their cat tree. Keeping warm. The weather is a lot colder now than it was last week. I gave up and put the central heating on. We were out in the rain earlier and I got soaked. We are having hefty April showers. The sky turns dark grey and then hail and rain pour down. The temperature is about 10 centigrade lower than it was a week ago… Typical British weather.

X

Wild and wet

Looking out of the side window  yesterday, you can see why I didn’t want to go outside! It being the 4th of April, I was hoping things would dry and sunny. But no. On the TV there were photos of snow in Shropshire. The weather was swirling round a hook of cloud scooting across the British Midlands.

Last night when we went out to the theatre the wind and rain were awful. There were gusts of wind that blew my umbrella inside out. I could have thrown it away but despite the supports being bent out of shape the fabric kept the freezing wind off us. My partner bent down and walked behind me…. If we had been in costume we could have been a pantomime horse!

Today there was sunshine this morning but its turned very dark and cloudy. I’m guessing it’s going to tip it down again soon.

X

Mad March weather

One minute it’s snowing, the next it’s cloudy, then it’s sunny and then we have a massive hailstorm. The hail has melted already because the sun has come out again.

That’s the thing about British weather, it rarely stays the same. In some places like Yorkshire or the Lake District you can buy postcards with mottos on them saying things like if you can see the hills now you won’t be able to in ten minutes because it will be raining or words to that effect..

I was going for a walk this afternoon but its blustery and cold. Perhaps if it improves in an hour or so I will go out. March winds seem to be in evidence today, it’s very gusty. In April we should have showers. Then summer arrives, in the past that’s when we used to get lots more gentle rain. Nowadays with global warming it seems we will get very hot weather or big thunderstorms, weather is never boring here, on some days you get all four seasons at once! 

Bad weather

IMG_20180720_144523

The lake was quiet on that day in November. The little ferry was only open one day a week so people could get supplies from the local village. It had been raining all morning. Grey clouds full of grey rain. The lake remained calm, placid, but the weather threatened to grow worse and the pressure was dropping.

They had caught the ferry earlier on in the afternoon and now they were making the trip back. Suddenly the wind whipped up. The water started to get choppy and white tops grew on the waves that were building up. Instead of the calm trip they were used to, the little boat was rising and falling over the crest of the waves, tipping and twisting. The internal lights came on and the ships captain announced that they were taking in a little water and that all passengers must remain calm, but they should all go to their muster points at the front and back of the ferry.

It was not far from shore when the propeller caught an old floating tree trunk. The forward motion stopped and the ferry lurched up and down. Waves were crashing over the prow, and the rain seemed to intensify.

When the squall passed the boat was gone. Only floating life rafts could be seen from shore. Of the twenty people on the boat 18 survived. The only two that were missing were an older man and woman. They were still holding hands when their bodies were found on the shingle beach in the morning.

March Winds

IMG_20190228_191259

Tomorrow is March

Month of winds

Whirling round

Sharp and clean..

March comes in

Like a lion

Fights with the world

Shreds trees.

Like a dragon

Breathing cold fire

Bringing rain

And late snow ….

Or

March comes in like a lamb

First day of meteorological spring…

Gentle breezes

Kiss the blossom

Arriving early

In warm breath.

Then the old saying goes

In like a lion, out like a lamb

Or

In like a lamb out like a lion…

Whatever way..

March Roars !