Goodbye to spring?

The weather this week has turned cold and, at times, wet with a stiffish breeze. Am I dreaming or was I really basking in the warmth of the sun last week?

I smiled when I read the other day about the American serviceman returning home after having been stationed in England during the War. He was asked what would be his most enduring memory of England and replied, ‘The way spring merges imperceptibly into autumn'. I related this tale to a fellow dog-walker who told me of a comment made by a Japanese student she once had staying with her. ‘In our country,' said the student, ‘we have seasons and we have different clothes for each season. In England you can wear the same clothes all year round'.

Of course, we don't have such a thing as a climate here in England, we have weather. Whether it's raining or whether it's not doing so yet.

Hosting foreign students is a local cottage industry. Brighton has several language schools drawing students from just about every country in the world to learn English. The schools like to have their students staying with English families and are always looking for more host families. It can be quite a profitable business for housewives looking to earn some extra tax-free cash.



#1Nana was saying how she has recently found it difficult to get any words onto paper. Actually, she didn't really say ‘paper', she said ‘written down'. I well remember how, when I was writing the story of Les Lavandes I reached the stage of thinking I had writer's block. I managed to overcome that by setting myself a small target. Each day I aimed to write just a couple of paragraphs. This took my mind off the seemingly unattainable object of finishing what eventually became a slim paperback. (It's all over on my other blog if anybody is interested.) I seem to have to opposite situation arise this week and words have flowed in a torrent - except for where I wanted them to flow most strongly. Somehow I haven't managed to raise much enthusiasm for cracking on with writing my family history. I have, however, written about how I bought a flame-thrower while in France last week. That story will be appearing on Les Lavandes in a day or two. In fact, I managed to write so much that it will probably appear over several days as a sort of serial story.



Maybe spring is still here. For the last couple of days a hen blackbird has been busy gathering nesting materials. When she has a beakful, she flies onto a stubby branch of a heavily pollarded cherry tree in the garden, looks around carefully and then flies onto a fence post. After another careful check, she flies into our neighbour's fir tree where she is planning to nest.