Officially Over!

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Here we are halfway through August, the height of so-called summer, and we have had the central heating back on for a couple of days.

Our lawn, such as it is with two dogs in the house, was badly parched a couple of weeks ago and is now as green as it could possibly be thanks to the rain we have had in the last few days.

Is it any surprise then that the Met Office forecasters have told us that summer is already officially over and that wet weather is predicted until November?

I think we already had an inkling that this was the case!
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At Last!

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Warmer weather, said to be better than in some Mediterranean resorts, arrived yesterday along with clear-blue skies.

As we took our dogs out for their early morning walk on Two Tree Island, we spotted a green woodpecker scurrying along the road’s edges after the insects that run along them. The may blossom was diffusing the island with its delicate scent and, as background music, we had two pheasants calling to each other as well as a pair of nightingales.

Afterwards, the supermarket was jam-packed with shoppers stocking up with stuff for the barbecues that would be fired up at midday. On our return with our own shopping, the lawnmowers and strimmers could already be heard along with the sounds of a couple of DIYers banging away. In the gardens, children were playing to the music of the local blackbirds, and in our own garden the blue tits were busy foraging for their young. By lunchtime, the strangled jingles of the ice-cream van could be heard in the distance.

Truly, summer has arrived at long last.
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All Is Well

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We walk our two dogs in the tranquility of Two Tree Island in Essex every morning and today was no exception.

This Friday morning the sun was shining bright in a clear blue sky in which the only things to be seen were the contrails of three noiseless aircraft high above us.

Among the varied birdsong were the grasshopper warblers competing with the croaking of the pheasants, the cries of the gulls, the sweet songs of the blackbirds as well as the nightingales which have been with us for the last four days. And, for the first time this year, above them all were the repetitive noisy calls of the cuckoo.

At high tide, the waters of the Thames Estuary were as placid as they could possibly be. Various ships were passing up and down, including Marco Polo, the first cruise ship to call into Tilbury this year. Down by Southend Pier could be seen an old Thames barge with its distinctive brown sail.

The resident badger has been busy, as could be seen from the many areas it has dug over in the search for tasty earthworms and roots. Rabbits, untroubled by our presence, grazed among the daffodils well away from our dogs which, in any event, are couch-potatoes and too lazy to bother giving chase.

Everywhere are the signs of spring and the coming summer. Many of the blossoms are in full bloom and the buds on the trees and bushes are slowly uncurling. The landscape which was brown and bare is turning green and lush in this little corner of our world. Across Leigh Creek and above Leigh Downs, Hadleigh Castle positively shone in the early morning sunshine and cows grazed peacefully beneath it in the bright green grass.

Truly this was a morning when God was in his heaven and all was certainly well with the world.

Politicians excepted!
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