Saturday 14 April 2012

Weather girl......



The dull mist-cloud hangs low over north London, it claws it's way through my black, shower-proof coat making me feel damp. I absolutely hate these top-heavy, cloud-sky days which is tough living in England. But, as they say, we didn't come here for the weather.
However, the weather has gone really weird, sort of extreme spring, well definitely in London. On the phone a friend exclaims:
"I'm soaked, did you hear that thunder?"
A couple of miles away I peer out of the window at the wispy cloud and pale sunshine.
And then there was the hail, huge if you saw it, not if you blinked.
The blossom on the trees outside my window is blooming pale pink and white, heralding the summer, carpeting the the street in petal snow, so strong is the breeze.



The tulips in the yard, cerise and cherry-red, bob and bow like so many Japanese, kimono-clad Geisha, bent by the hard showers that hit like mini monsoons.


The flowers have burst bright, first parched, then quenched, now drenched. And its cold.

I layer cashmere with wool under coat and scarf and sunglasses. An hour later I am hot. Then I'm wet. Then freezing. At half past six the sky is blue, I buy white wine, sun-kissed tomatoes and olives. By half seven I want to drink red. The heating goes back up to Bombay.

I shall be spending next weekend in a Yurt, not in some far-flung, hot tropic or perched on the Mongolian Steppe, but instead somewhere in Sussex. Why?



Top tip: 30 Rock is back..... Comedy Central 10.30pm Friday, another good reason to stay in

26 comments:

  1. Hello:
    What is it with the weather at the moment? These fluctuations from cold to hot, and then back to cold again, are very trying and very un spring like. If it is any consolation it has been the same with us and on Tuesday of this week, staying in the countryside, we experienced a very hard frost. So much for the cherry blossom!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. A yurt? In England, in April?

    RESPECT!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Just typical English weather to me !! I remember when it snowed in May !
    Our neice had Yurts for her wedding....they were great. Enjoy your time in the yurt and tell us all about it. Have fun. XXXX

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sounds like the whole world is having odd spring.
    Now...a yurt? Because???

    ReplyDelete
  5. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. The bloody British weather was a major factor in heading for NZ.

    Is a Yurt some sort of Mongolian tent?
    or
    An Essex girl trying to pronounce yoghurt?

    ReplyDelete
  6. It's a bit all over the place up here too, but then we're used to having four seasons in a day oop north.

    A yurt... I hope you're not coming over all "finding yourself". I prefer the dating stories. :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. In the words of Jack Donaghy,

    We need hope. We need change. We need experience. We need pens.


    In the words of me,

    Thank you for writing.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Please send some of your rain to the Eastern Seaboard of the US ASAP.
    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I hate this weather, going from hot to cold, and rushing out to get the washing in with every light shower then back out again when the sun reappears.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I long to stay in a Yurt. Got caught out in that hail storm - not funny and we have a roof that
    "only leaks when it rains" boy did it rain on Thursday - it rained cats & dogs ( tho they were safely inside upset by the thunder )

    ReplyDelete
  11. I can't get over the bluebells being out - and dang me the wild garlic- that I am sure I usually pick in June! I don't like it at all... Btw didn't see hail even though I live in N London too!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Loving your flower flowers, very surreal. Even my proteas (NZ natives) are out here in California despite the thunderstorms

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I mean flower photos, see the weather poltegeists are even affecting my spelling..

      Delete
  13. You'll be OK - they have real fires in Yurts. Take gin. xxx

    ReplyDelete
  14. Yes, I got hailed on on Saturday and had to run home. It feels like an insult, to be honest, as though someone's got it in for you.

    ReplyDelete
  15. My tulips and daffs and the lilacs are going to open soon. The air is perfumed.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Unseasonably warm weather makes me very anxious. Enjoy your stay in the yurt!

    ReplyDelete
  17. I had just finished putting out my second load of washing when the rain came down. I chose to grab the nearly dry stuff to run indoors with and then go back for the wet things, at which point, yes, you guessed it, I got hailed on. Weird indeed!
    I don't do camping in ANY sort of structure.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Fool proof way to predict rain in the current weather pattern? Simple just ask me to tell you when I look out and think "sunny... I'll wash the car"... twice in the last two weeks I'm just drying it off and the lights go out as black as your hat clouds arrive and the heaven's then open... !!!

    A Yurt? In Sussex... are the Mongolian hoards trying again to crush European resistance? If so I've missed the news stories on that with so much coverage about the Titantic - topical

    ReplyDelete
  19. I stayed in a Yurt once...bring (LOTS OF) alcohol and you'll be fine - not that I can remember much about the experience, having followed my own advice - but hey - I lived to tell the tale! x

    ReplyDelete
  20. I've got my fingers crossed that we have a heatwave for you next weekend though it's pretty blooming freezing down here at the moment, but then we are in the next county so you could be OK. Blooming weather!

    Happy yurting.

    Nina xxx

    ReplyDelete
  21. I know of many yurting experiences in Sussex. Bell tents a-go-go down here it is. One of my friends is moving out of a real house into their bell for real life. They do have a stove and chimney attached mind but even so.... it's a tent. It's England. It's suicide.....

    ReplyDelete
  22. The weather is pretty weird here as well. The trees are blooming but we still have to wear jackets. Have a great day. xo

    ReplyDelete
  23. A Yurt in Sussex. Sounds like Peter Mayle's next book.

    ReplyDelete
  24. I know there is a drought down south so be thankful for the rain.

    ReplyDelete