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At last! We’ve had some half decent weather this week. There have been a couple of days when it was actually warm and sunny! What are the chances of that? The decent weather gave me the opportunity to mow the lawns for the first time this season and, more importantly, allowed Ms Playchute to get out and start digging her vegetable garden. We’re easily two weeks behind where we should be by now and stuff that should have been in the ground is still awaiting the opportunity. Unfortunately, as far as the lawn-mowing process is concerned, the damn grass will now grow like a teenager during a growth spurt to make up for lost time. Continue reading →

Another wet, damp, dismal and dreary week, just for a change. The weather people say, though, that this coming week should be much better – here’s hoping.

Jackdaws (and crows generally) are very clever birds. I suspect that the one(s) which found themselves down our dining room fireplace learned never to attempt to build a nest on a chimney pot again, or at least not on our dining room chimney pot. What a shame that the humans who inhabit the place were not smart enough to do something about the chimney before the second batch of jackdaws made their way down. Continue reading →

Thursday was one of those days you dream about in the dark dismal depths of winter and/or during the rain-sodden days of early spring. It was bright, clear and, most importantly, dry. This is in marked contrast to the rest of the week – we’ve had more rain this week than Noah. It has been relentless and the area has even experienced some local flooding, something which we don’t see too often around here. So, Thursday’s splendid beauty was very welcome indeed. Unfortunately, that was merely a brief respite – more rain!

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A mixed week – some very pleasant and even warm sunny afternoons and more wind and rain from any of the various Beasts from the East. It was so pleasant on Monday that we spent the afternoon in the garden, wrestling with and ripping out vegetation. Very satisfying, I’m sure.

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Good morning. It’s been a tolerably tolerable week. The temperatures are certainly higher than they were a week ago – indeed, we’ve reached double figures on a couple of occasions! No rain, sleet or snow to ruin our days but the wind is still streaming in with a vengeance which makes it feel as if it’s colder than it really is. Hey, ho. Now that Spring is officially here we’re looking forward to basking in warm sunshine any day now. Continue reading →

Hopefully, this latest little flurry of snow will be the last of the season – is that too much to ask? We had a couple of positively Spring-like days in the week but the Mini Beast from the East arrived overnight on Friday/Saturday. The temperature plunged and we were dusted with a smattering of snow – those clever folks at the Met Office tell us we’ll get to keep these lovely freezing temperatures until the middle of the week. That’s OK, I guess as long as that really is the end of it. It’s time!

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Phew! We finally made it out of the village and into town on Sunday following our temporary weather-induced incarceration. Of course, our snow-boundness was nothing compared to the inundation those of you in the great Northeast have recently enjoyed but it was substantial and significant for our neck of the woods. Altogether we probably had only about eight inches of snow, the big problem was the strong, icy-cold easterly winds causing drifting of the snow across the roads. Even on Sunday when we finally ventured out it was still tricky going near the Sulgrave turn (for those of you who know it) with single lane traffic inching its way along the road between great sheaths of snow on either side. Continue reading →

Oh, my goodness! We had an absolutely astonishingly excellent time last weekend! Shame that the rest of the week turned out to be somewhat less than ideal. Continue reading →

The calendar says it’s still February but there are signs of spring everywhere – crocuses and daffodils peeking their heads out to check the weather and new-born lambs gambolling in the fields. Still, the calendar says it’s still February and the bitterly freezing arctic winds and the heavy frosts suggest that winter’s not done yet! Continue reading →