12°C westerly.
It’s touch & go whether I can ride in when I feel like this. Can your immune system fight a cold in the background or does it have to blow out with a full snotty headcold? Maybe an hour’s ride will decide the question.
15°C, rain
Three months of rain would suggest that summer is as good as cancelled this year. All that water has driven the garden wild, it’s a jungle out there. I have some work to do this weekend with the nearest thing I have to a machete.
It’s no normal summer when a little 5″ pot can stay wet without once drying out. Such conditions seem to suit the curious little guys who live in there.
After work each day, I visit their pot to see how they are doing. This picture shows today, they are taking form. Last week they were barely more than the little bits left over when you have rubbed out a pencil mistake. If you waggle your finger in the water they scurry back down to the silty layer that has collected at the bottom.
Starting from the day we break up for summer, the sun has promised it will put in a sustained appearance. I must make sure their little world remains habitable for the charming little dudes. Presumably, they must be larvae for some flying insect. Let’s see this through.
12°C, rain
The Weather was correct last year- early June days reached 24°C, and summer half-term saw me wading into a mountain lake for a paddle while walking up Nantlle Ridge. This year, the air is cool & rain has formed a strip across England & Wales. This is not the correct weather for June. Weather sometimes errs.
To avoid this cold front, I may camp up in the Lake District instead of (my preferred) Snowdonia. Bank holiday weekend in the lakes is likely to be busy with English visitors. Getting away from this town is more urgent than usual this year. The local Bower fair has driven me away for the last six years at some cost. But to compound the repellance, England has gone Jubilee mad. Wales is probably a better escape from kitsch royal patriotism than Cumbria. I bet there is some daft sod with union-flag bunting on their tent as I write. Not so in a Welsh campsite I predict.
7°C, rain
Don’t like February, especially when it happens in May. Top temperature today, 7° which rose from a startling 6° this morning. Feb has returned four months on, it would appear. Since I had little teaching to do, I strode into town and bought socks. Stripy socks are back on the shelves so I got a bundle of 7 (pairs). That’s how exciting my day has been, oh and played with Scratch for an hour or so.
Scratch was quite engrossing I have to admit. I’m teaching it very soon, so ought to.
Time for a nap, I did get up before 5am today (before you say anything).
5°C, wind rain & cold. Dammit.
Two years ago, the days reached 19°C with some consistency. Today, outside looks like one of those awful holidays in Wales- cold rain driven by winds that shake trees as if they think they’re at some sporting event.
There is a grim looking pile of marking that has to be done. What fun will today bring?
10°C, rain
This time last year I camped in the Rhinogydd range. This year it’s unlikely that I will camp during this Easter break. A week of rain, sun and heavy showers is forecast. This morning I took Rosie to the local woods for a run and it was gorgeous, the rain didn’t matter. In practice, the rain brought out all those smells that subliminally speak of spring. The problem arises when you are cooking on a stove outside your tent. Rain gets through to your skin and it becomes very difficult to keep warm. Campsites that offer log burners are best at these times. I can but dream of Llyn Gwynant.
Plans aren’t working out. The original idea included a visit to Betwys-y-Coed to get some new hiking gear. My hiking coat is, strictly speaking, a size too small (but then most of my clothes are a bit too small). I knew it at the time but it was in a sale and I had no idea how much I would come to use it. If I knew, I would have paid the extra and got something that fitted well and was probably a better, more breathable fabric. Goretex is the one to look for. Last week I tried on a few coats in Cotswold, the outdoor shop. Berghaus is still the best one, only because the cut is long and so fits my proportions better.
9° to 4°C, rain then cleared
I didn’t mind the ride to work in the rain, it fell a little thicker than drizzle & blew my road speed downwards. However, I was comfortable. The heated pipes that can be relied on to dry my clothes, ran less hot as we approach the start of spring. Putting on a wet, cold shirt in preparation for the journey home is the bit I react to. It’s a kind of physical jolt from the part of us that does reflex actions. It only took about 3 miles before body warmth raised the temperature of the water that had soaked through every layer of clothing this morning. Body heat is good at that, and you generate more of it at speed.
10~6°C, rain
This plan: Bent the flashing under that window to help it drain over a roof tile. Temporarily shoved a wad of plastic in front of the point that the water seems to get in. Let’s see how it goes, today brings rain, lots of it. The wood will take so long to dry out though, but at least we’re heading towards a slightly less wet part of winter. I put the heating back on up there and am running a de-humidifier to grab what is probably condensation.
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14°C, rain. CR:?
It would be dry if I'd left it in the house
Sunday is cyclingday, so I wake to rain and a washingline full of wet clothes. I face a grim choice: finish the last bit of painting in the attic, or attack the pile of marking while I wait for the clouds to lift. It’s a tough life.
Micycle 