I woke up to complete darkness at 7am today, caused by cloud so low it seemed to be covering the house. It is raining heavily, feels cold at only 12C, and it’s dark enough inside the house to require lights on at 9:44am.
It was necessary to check the calendar to confirm it was the 16th of May, and not the 16th of January.
Maybe I should just go back to bed…
The rain has finally returned. No doubt people will be walking around saying things like “It’s good for the garden”, or “The farmers need it”. But I was enjoying the sunshine, so need something to cheer me up as I listen to the rain hitting the windows.
I had to drive to the supermarket on Friday afternoon, and I took a camera along to photograph something different in our local town of Dereham. However, the rain was unrelenting, so I returned with my shopping, but no photos.
After a badly disturbed sleep last night, I woke up to more heavy rain, and feeling housebound. But then there was a welcome break in the rain, so I got ready and picked up my LX-100 to take in the pocket of my long parka coat, making sure to also wear my Wellington boots this time.
I set it to 16:9 format to get a more panoramic perspective. Clicking on the photos takes you to Flickr, where they can be enlarged.
The River Whitewater wasn’t as high as I had expected, and barely over the bank at the river bend.
Walking through the woodland path to the bridge that crosses over to Hoe Rough, the land on the eastern side was showing the effects of accumulated rainfall.
The river is right up under the new bridge, but not quite onto the walkway.
Once on Hoe Rough, walking was difficult. These are my boots in one of the less-flooded areas. The mud was so thick under the water, I had to drag my boots out to complete each step.
I soon had enough of that, and took the easier path to the main gate, to exit across the Fakenham Road Bridge back to Beetley Meadows.
The bridge could do with some sprucing-up. It is a long time since it was repainted.
Large patches of snowdrops alongside the road had been flattened by the torrential rain earlier.
At least I managed almost 90 minutes walking in the fresh air, and it didn’t rain while I was out!
Here I sit trying to decide which kind of weather to moan about, and having to choose between two options.
Last week we had exceptionally cold weather, and for some regions of the UK snow brought chaos to roads, railways, and electricity supply. Over in the East, in Beetley, we had sharp frosts, some lovely sunny blue skies, and very cold nights.
On Sunday morning, I was woken up when it was still dark by heavy rain hitting the windows. By the time I took Ollie out for his walk, it had slowed to just ‘rain’, and the raindrops were cold when they hit you. Later that afternoon, we had to drive to see our grandson for his birthday celebration, and that drive was in heavy rain that persisted throughout the night.
When I went to bed at 11pm, I could hear the rain hitting the windows, and when I woke up today, it was still raining. 31 hours of constant rain that has made it dark enough to need the house lights on constantly. But although it is still cold, currently 5C, there is no frost, no traffic disruption, and no ice.
On balance, I have to choose rain over snow and ice, as it is less dangerous.
And I own two umbrellas.
When I was a child, fully-carpeted stairs were almost unknown. There would be a central strip of carpet running up the stairs, with varnished or painted wood either side. I presume this would be there to deaden the sound of footsteps on the stairs, especially in a house like ours where someone else lived on the ground floor. The carpet would be held in place by metal rods (usually chrome) secured either side to stop it slipping.
In our house, those rods also gave rise to a common expression. Whether or not that was a family saying, a London saying, or more widely-used, I never found out. But on days when it was raining heavily, and in a particular way where the rain comes straight down vertically, and is so torrential it appears to be almost solid and silvery in appearance, the first one of my parents to notice this would say, “It’s coming down in stair-rods”.
I was reminded of this earlier today, when the sound of particularly heavy rain woke me up, and I got out of bed and opened the curtains.
It was coming down in stair-rods.
This is definitely the worst October I can remember since moving away from London. A whole month with little more than gloomy skies, low cloud, and incessant rain.
Floods, cold weather arriving early, and everything feeling damp. Eastern England (and eastern Scotland) has been caught in a relentless cycle of bad weather that has been circling the country for weeks. Feeling more like winter than autumn most days, it brings on a mood that is hard to shake.
Muddy dog walks have arrived early too, having to wear rubber boots and trudge through mud while holding an umbrella to avoid a complete soaking.
My SAD lamp has been on every afternoon, and the lights in the house have to stay on at late as 10am, sometimes all day. When the sun tries to break through it is low in the sky, and has a watery look to it. But it does little more than briefly illuminate the low cloud.
On Friday morning the mist was so thick, I couldn’t see the house across the street. Today is forecast to be sunny, but there is no sign of that so far, just a blanket of grey.
I cannot wait to see the end of this dismal month, and my fingers are crossed for some crisp and clear weather in November.
As I mentioned in other posts recently, we had excellent weather for our week by the sea in Lincolnshire. Only 90 miles north from Beetley, it is an easy journey, and not at all tiring to undertake.
Late on Sunday afternoon, the last day of our holiday, we were considering where to eat dinner later. Julie walked to the local shop to buy some soft driinks, and when she returned she remarked that it was beginning to feel very humid. She also mentioned that behind us to the west, the sky was “looking very dark”.
Moments later, those dark skies passed over our cabin, and began to gather on the seafront close to our accommodation. I decided to photograph them, as they looked very impressive.
(Clicking on the photos will take you to Flickr, where they can be enlarged.)
It got so dark, the photos look black and white. In the next one, you can see the clouds in front of our hotel dipping down to almost touch the beach.
Seconds after I took that, a thunderclap so loud made Ollie jump up vertically from where he was sleeping on a rug inside the door of the cabin. That was followed by torrential rain, of monsoon standard. I haven’t seen such rain since we visited Singapore in 2002. I decided to put my camera away, as lightning illuminated the skies all around, and the rain came down even heavier. But I stayed on the porch to watch the storm, one of the best ‘free shows’ I can remember.
The guttering and drains couldn’t cope with the sheer volume of water, which was cascading off the rooftops like a waterfall. At 6:30pm, we decided to eat in the hotel, not willing to chance a soaking further afield. A mad dash across the hotel garden took us into the bar area. Staff were there using mops and a carpet shampooer to suck up water that was running under the doors. Some of the internal lights had blown, but other staff were doing a great job of serving drinks and taking food orders.
Those of us hardy enough to brave the storm enjoyed our meals and drinks, everyone chatting across the tables with the good-old British ‘Stiff upper lip’ spirit.
All in all, it was a memorable last night of our holiday.
I think we are going to have to write-off July, and lose a month from our short English summer. The weather has been ‘unpredicatable’, to say the least. Hunidity at night, some torrential rain storms, and as I type this, 55 mph winds are rattling everything in Beetley. At least they are warm winds, so I am staying positive.
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Ollie has enjoyed the rain, as it brings cooler weather. On Friday, he was actually ‘trotting’ around, ignoring the downpours and enjoying the cool temperatures and cold rain. It was a delight to see my geriatric dog acting like his old self, and striding out ahead of me at least 100 yards in front. I get so much joy from watching him acting like he did five years ago, I cannot even find the words to express that feeling. On Saturday, we had gale-force winds on our dog-walk. But they were strange, warm winds, like walking into a hair-dryer. Ollie felt that heat, and soon retired to the river to cool down.
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I have already posted about how we had to change our plans for some trips this past week. Fortunately, Julie has more days off from work coming up, so we might get to do the things that were cancelled. If not, that’s life in an English summer. At least we are going out to eat in a restaurant in town later tonight, something we both enjoy.
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Whatever you are doing this Sunday, and wherever you are doing it, I hope it makes you happy.
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This past week has been dominated by the weather. To be specific, rain. Relentless rain, day and night for days on end. I wrote about it on a blog post, and despite a dry day on Saturday, it started again overnight. As well as being unpleasant and affecting my mood, it has caused chaos further north, with flooding in Eastern Scotland causing the death of a woman who was swept into a river in Aberdeenshire. I really don’t want to hear one more person say, “It’s good for the garden”.
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Otherwise, it has been an unremarkable week in Beetley. I have stuck to my routine, and so has Ollie.
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There was a government ‘Financial Statement’ during the week that basically announced tax rises for everyone, and a windfall tax on some oil companies. We were told to expect austerity and slow growth, and some ‘difficult decisions’ to come until the next election. This from a Prime Minister with a personal fortune exceeding £30 million, five houses, a bilionare wife, and a salary of £162,000 that he should really give away to charity, as he doesn’t need it. And from his sidekick Chancellor, a man on a salary of £153,000, plus expenses up to £200,000 in addition to that. Austerity is not something those people will ever comprehend.
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Julie has been baking, making Bread Pudding. It is delicious. Readers outside of the UK may never have heard of this cheap-to-make cake, so here is what it looks like, with a recipe. https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/bread-pudding-0
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Wherever you are, and whatever you are doing, I hope you have a very enjoyable Sunday.
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When I went to bed on Tuesday night, it was raining heavily here. I lay in bed listening to the sound of it, driven against the window by strong winds.
Then I woke up on Wednesday, and it was still raining torentially. It carried on that way until just after midday, when a break in the weather allowed me to have a dry dog-walk with Ollie.
But by 3pm it was back, raining just as heavily as earlier.
Later that night, the rain increasd in intensity, as did the noise of it striking the house. When I went to sleep, it was still raining. When I got up this morning, it is still raining. The house is dark, and I have my SAD lamp in operation at 8:30am.
After such a long and hot dry summer, I had seemingly forgotten just how much relentless rain like this can so badly affect my mood.
beetleypete 