Something strange happened last night. At least, I think it happened - it was possibly a mirage but I don't think so.
At about 8.30 pm, I went out into our garden (American: yard) in order to put away my electric "Bosch" lawnmower and its associated cable reel for I had been cutting grass in the afternoon. Items safely stored away, I then came back into the house to wallop the keys on this very keyboard.
It must have been about half an hour later that some water fell down from the sky. Not much of it but enough to wet the cars, the pavement and the lawn. I asked Shirley what it was and she googled it. Apparently it was what is commonly called "rain". Anyway, the "rain" lasted less than ten minutes and it was not particularly heavy.
It was the first rain we had seen in six weeks in what has been Yorkshire's driest ever spring - well the driest on record anyway. It seems that more of this rainwater could fall in the next few days. Farmers and gardeners will be very happy if the land gets a damned good soaking.
The unpredictability of our weather is something I love about England. We never really know what we are going to get the whole year round. This is largely because of the influence that The Atlantic Ocean has upon our climate.
With the changeability, it is no wonder that British people tend to talk about the weather more than most nationalities.
Anyway, today we were back to what has become our new normal - a dry, sunny day with not a hint of rain. Last night's smattering of water had had next to no impact.
I went up the garden to our vegetable plot to do some digging ready for putting in my runner beans and courgettes (American: zucchini). The ground is so hard and dry that it was like digging for rocks in the Gobi Desert. I couldn't spend too long up there as we were looking after Little Margot all day and I didn't want Shirley to have to do it all.
It's nice to share the "load" even though Margot is such a delightful and "easy" child to look after. If she cries - which is pretty rare - you know that there's a very good reason for it.
She makes me laugh when she spots her colourful wellingtons (American: rain boots) in our kitchen. She immediately sits on the floor to take her shoes off ready to get outside for she associates those rubber boots with the garden and she loves being outside. Tomorrow, Phoebe will be with us all day. The prospect of any more water falling from the sky is very slim indeed. However, on Saturday, a spell of proper rain seems certain. Hallelujah!
We are having several days of rain which our yard was happy to see. Hope you get your Saturday rain, Neil!
ReplyDeleteGod knows we need it Ellen.
DeleteI hope you get a soaker of a rainstorm -- sounds like you need it!
ReplyDeleteOf course, we could experience a wet summer.
DeleteAtlantic Canadians talk about the weather a lot, too, and for the same reason! However, we've had cool and rainy weather much of the past month, so the grass is growing like crazy. It's so good that Margot likes being outside - long may that continue. Good luck with your excavations in the vegetable plot :)
ReplyDeleteIn normal years the soil turns so easily and has a good level of moisture - but not this year.
DeleteWe had over a week of rai n and lately it's been sunny ... but late in the night the rains came again. Everything is so green!
ReplyDeleteFunny how Jennifer in Florence says they have had little rain!
DeleteWeather can be changeable. There's saying here that if you don't like the weather, wait half and hour.
ReplyDeleteI would have imagined that both Red Deer and Esk had more predictable weather patterns being so far inland.
DeleteIt is the incredible blue skies which is also so unusual for Britain and the sun shines and just keeps on giving...
ReplyDeleteYou are right - the light has been so clear and sharp in recent weeks with nature's colours wowing those who care to look.
DeleteSimilarly, we've had some rain that did next to nothing, but more is in store.
ReplyDeleteI gather that Margot is better (or even back to her usual happy self) after her accident.
As for this weather thing - I often wonder how come the British think they are the only ones who talk about the weather a lot? Has anyone ever made a study of this, and are there statistics to support this theory? To my experience, which consists of 57 years of life with most of them spent in Germany, and having been married into an Italian and then into an English family, plus having friends, acquaintances and colleagues from many different nations, I can only say that everyone talks about the weather, and at length, too.
Here in the southwest of Germany, I may be hundreds of miles away from the Atlantic, the Mediterranean and the Baltic Sea, but our weather is nearly as unpredictable as your island climate. We have seen the hottest and driest years on record, as well as the wettest springs, according to meteorologists. Yesterday on my way home from work, I was walking through rain while my weather app said merely "cloudy" for Ludwigsburg... it stopped while I was in a restaurant with my Mum and two of her friends, and started again during the night. And very welcome it is - hallelujah indeed!
A university academic study determined that Yorkshire folk talk about the weather 94% of the time they are awake but residents of Baden-Württemberg only talk about it 91% of the time.
DeleteOh I am sure such a study exists and is not just a product of your imagination... or an AI-generated answer :-D
DeleteThe weather really is bonkers this year. We have had a more than average rainfall and you have been suffering from almost drought-like conditions! Rain is forecast here for tomorrow!
ReplyDeleteHang on - I thought that the rain in Spain stays mainly on the plain!
DeleteNot always YP, sometimes it's a deluge of Biblical proportions everywhere!
DeleteHere a garden is a nice place, a yard is less nice. Front gardens and back yards are common but you can have a back garden.
ReplyDeleteYour forget your huge Australian readership. Courgette (Australian: zucchini). Wellingtons (Australian: gum boots).
We too 'need the rain', but not to flooding extent in New South Wales.
Australians tend to have enough intelligence to work out the language and money differences. Besides, my Australian readership is not "huge" - in fact some of those people are quite thin.
DeleteWell, we had some and the grass is green, but I'm not going to talk about it.
ReplyDeleteYou just did talk about it!
Delete"A lot of weather we've been having lately". Stan Laurel- Way Out West.
ReplyDeleteNormal rain service resumes tomorrow here.
It needs to rain if we are going to keep calling Ireland - The Emerald Isle. Otherwise, it will become The Straw-Coloured Isle.
DeleteI think we got a thimbleful here in Kent
ReplyDeleteBetter save it in case of emergency.
DeleteWe haven't had much rain, either. We sure could use some. It's also been unseasonably hot here for mid-May and of course that doesn't help things.
ReplyDeleteYou should consider growing a sweet pea teepee for the girls. You can google it to see what I'm talking about. How fun would that be for two little ones?!
Well it might be fun but I am a bad grandpa. I will tell Shirley about the idea.
DeleteWe have had a lot of rain here in Virginia. Everything is so green! You are lucky to be able to spend such precious time with your granddaughters.
ReplyDeleteWe know it is very precious Michael and relish our time with them. I want them to remember me sweetly.
DeleteI hope you do get some rain, enough to make the grund easier to dig for those vegetable plantings. I was at the twins house today and noticed a bare patch that one held sunflowers and I saw a tiny new set of leaves that were unmistakenly potatoes! My boy is growing spuds!
ReplyDeleteWe need rain too, but this is Australia, so it's likely we won't get any until almost spring and then the roads and gutters will run like rivers for a few hours and then the water will be gone again.
I was so happy reading that Margot now takes off her shoes ready to don boots and get outside with you.
Thanks Elsie. By the way is "grund" the Aussie word for "ground"?
DeleteGrund is German!
DeleteGrund is a typo, I missed the "o" just like I missed the "c" a bit later on in 'one' which should read 'once'
DeleteWell, that's encouraging! We had rain yesterday as well, but like you it wasn't much.
ReplyDelete"Yes - the rain will come!" saith Noah.
Deletei think the very first human conversation may have been about the weather. It's such a primal thing in our lives.
ReplyDeleteWeather or food I guess.
DeleteIt didn't rain while I was there, it must be a drought.
ReplyDeleteYes. I guess it must be but tomorrow significant rain is expected to fall.
DeleteIt rained in my bit of very north, North Yorkshire at 5am. The experience felt so novel that I got up to watch; sleep was hardly interrupted at all, it was over so quickly.
ReplyDeleteThanks for dropping by Caree. Yorkshire commenters are especially welcome here.
Delete19 was a pop song by Paul Hardcastle.
ReplyDelete