Stormy Weather

[Serial_Apologist]

Same here - at 1:30 this afternoon there was clear sky; by 1:50 it had quickly clouded over and we had a heavy downpour with a couple of rumbles of thunder (no lightning); then all over by 2:30, and sunshine again. Nothing (thankfully) of the forecast "danger of flooding" non-stop, all-afternoon heavy showers. It's now gone darker again, but doesn't have the "feeling" that occurs before a prolonged serious rainfall.

The whole system is moving north, with the main electrical activity approaching the Scottish border. For a time the lightning map made Lancashire and Yorkshire look as if they'd been subjected to a serious attack of psoriasis!

[DracoM]

We then had two or three violent repeats thundering on the roof c 5 p.m., and the place is now cowed, bracing itself for another, fells virtually invisible in deep cloud / mist.

[Serial_Apologist]

Plenty of thunderstorms around here just now - Stratford in the E End getting a right clobbering! - v dramatic end to what looks like the last decently warm weather for some time now; presently feels like a turkish bath out there!

[Serial_Apologist]

Croydon area's turn now. Hope Lat managed to get his rose trees in in time!

Edit: overhead here now. Thunder surprisingly muffled considering the closeness of lightning flashes - indicating high-based convection, surprisingly.

[BBMmk2]

I see the weather people forecasted wrongly today, and yesterday too! I don't. A nearby village has their village day today, which is always good, when the weather is fine.

[Serial_Apologist]

I see the weather people forecasted wrongly today, and yesterday too! I don't. A nearby village has their village day today, which is always good, when the weather is fine.

Well we got the storms predicted here yesterday; and today is turning out fine, breezy and brilliantly sunny. Actually a beautiful relief after yesterday's subtropical humidity, and I am feeling thoroughly refreshed following a 16-mile ride this morning. With any luck the weather will hold for tomorrow's guided history walk around the Stockwell Green area. Two weeks ago it was just me, the guide, and five delightful ladies!!!

[BBMmk2]

Well we got the storms predicted here yesterday; and today is turning out fine, breezy and brilliantly sunny. Actually a beautiful relief after yesterday's subtropical humidity, and I am feeling thoroughly refreshed following a 16-mile ride this morning. With any luck the weather will hold for tomorrow's guided history walk around the Stockwell Green area. Two weeks ago it was just me, the guide, and five delightful ladies!!!

Hope all goes well there, SA. Cloudy and sunny here. Going out to Billingshurst this evening, to meet up with friends. A pub dinner is included and Fuller's ale!

[Serial_Apologist]

Hope all goes well there, SA. Cloudy and sunny here. Going out to Billingshurst this evening, to meet up with friends. A pub dinner is included and Fuller's ale!

Very interesting it was, Bbm. I hadn't realised how much interest there is in the district between Brixton and the present Stockwell, at the crossroads where the tube station where Charles de Menezes was notoriously shot by armed police the day after 7/7 is. Stockwell Green was by all accounts and a painting a pretty village scene overlooked by a fine medium-sized Regency house that must have belonged to the local squire. That house is still there, looking a little out-of-place in today's densely built up surroundings. Then as London expanded southwards in the mid-19th century, the local folks put up no resistance to the green being built over with typical nondescript 3-storey late Victorian terraced housing, because the green had been fenced off from the common folk since the Enclosures a century previously! There were two breweries in the immediate vicinity (!) - one of which opened a pub which is still there and Grade 2 listed due to some well-preserved porcelaine decor from the 1880s on the outside - and a plain-looking church from the same period, now in the hands of an Evangelist set-up who don't believe in looking after their properties (!). The breweries closed down in the 1950s and 1970s, and where they stood are modern blocks of flats, one with shops underneath. A different guide this time - a resident in the square as it happens, who, like most of these guided tour leaders, is a member of the Brixton Historical Society, whom the council consults over planning policies, and has lived in the Brixton district for much of his 70 years. One of the ladies who had been on last week's walk was there; the rest consisted of a friendly lesbian couple in their 40s with identical crewcuts, spectacles, T-shirts and tattoos - who were very outraged by the state of the church, much to my amusement - a man with longish white wavy hair in a blue anorak, probably in his mid-60s, who looks as if he should be a sculptor, whom I have seen on previous walks; and the usual slightly weird-looking male character who sniffles around the edge of the group without saying much, that one tends to get on these walks - not me this time!!

http://london1864.com/stanford50b.htm

Quite cool, breezy and cloudy for this one, and it now looks as though the tail-end of the showers announced in the south-west thir morning might be about to sweep through. I have to say tomorrow into Tuesday's weather forecast looks pretty grim for everywhere; by the end of it I think there'll be a lot of small branches and fresh leaves strewn about all over the place.

[Lat-Literal]

Croydon area's turn now. Hope Lat managed to get his rose trees in in time!

Edit: overhead here now. Thunder surprisingly muffled considering the closeness of lightning flashes - indicating high-based convection, surprisingly.

I did........just.

When the thunderstorm occurred on Friday, it was brief but there was enough much needed rain to cause a little temporary flooding in the garden.

Very interesting it was, Bbm. I hadn't realised how much interest there is in the district between Brixton and the present Stockwell, at the crossroads where the tube station where Charles de Menezes was notoriously shot by armed police the day after 7/7 is. Stockwell Green was by all accounts and a painting a pretty village scene overlooked by a fine medium-sized Regency house that must have belonged to the local squire. That house is still there, looking a little out-of-place in today's densely built up surroundings. Then as London expanded southwards in the mid-19th century, the local folks put up no resistance to the green being built over with typical nondescript 3-storey late Victorian terraced housing, because the green had been fenced off from the common folk since the Enclosures a century previously! There were two breweries in the immediate vicinity (!) - one of which opened a pub which is still there and Grade 2 listed due to some well-preserved porcelaine decor from the 1880s on the outside - and a plain-looking church from the same period, now in the hands of an Evangelist set-up who don't believe in looking after their properties (!). The breweries closed down in the 1950s and 1970s, and where they stood are modern blocks of flats, one with shops underneath. A different guide this time - a resident in the square as it happens, who, like most of these guided tour leaders, is a member of the Brixton Historical Society, whom the council consults over planning policies, and has lived in the Brixton district for much of his 70 years. One of the ladies who had been on last week's walk was there; the rest consisted of a friendly lesbian couple in their 40s with identical crewcuts, spectacles, T-shirts and tattoos - who were very outraged by the state of the church, much to my amusement - a man with longish white wavy hair in a blue anorak, probably in his mid-60s, who looks as if he should be a sculptor, whom I have seen on previous walks; and the usual slightly weird-looking male character who sniffles around the edge of the group without saying much, that one tends to get on these walks - not me this time!!

http://london1864.com/stanford50b.htm

Quite cool, breezy and cloudy for this one, and it now looks as though the tail-end of the showers announced in the south-west thir morning might be about to sweep through. I have to say tomorrow into Tuesday's weather forecast looks pretty grim for everywhere; by the end of it I think there'll be a lot of small branches and fresh leaves strewn about all over the place.

Sounds like a very interesting walk. Are there any connections with any composers? I have concluded that THE Southwark (as opposed to Lambeth) man is John Stainer unless anyone can advise me that there are more. Connections with the cathedral only would probably not suffice as those involved at various times could have been from anywhere.

I thought it felt cold last night almost to the point where I was looking at the central heating but some days have been glorious. Not sure that I like the sound of this coming week.

Hope all goes well there, SA. Cloudy and sunny here. Going out to Billingshurst this evening, to meet up with friends. A pub dinner is included and Fuller's ale!

Billingshurst is very nice - that pub with the big green in front of it - and the golf course just outside of the village that is manageable for those of us who can't play golf properly.

[Serial_Apologist]

I did........just.

When the thunderstorm occurred on Friday, it was brief but there was enough much needed rain to cause a little temporary flooding in the garden.

Excellent Lat! More to come over the next few days, now that we're in June!

[DracoM]

Well, it's been a smashing day oop 'ere, but forecast for tomorrow and Tuesday is dreadful. Battening down hatches already.

[BBMmk2]

Thank you very much indeed, SA, for that post. Very interesting read/ Especially about the breweries and the pub!

[DracoM]

Yep, lashing it down oop 'ere, driven by a sneapy, sneaky, chilly westerly.

[Serial_Apologist]

Last night's and this morning's wind and rainstorm has left the terrain much as I anticipated - branches and leaves scattered everywhere. I need to get to tonight's concert at Cadogan Hall somehow - I'm on the guest list among the celebs! The train service to Vicky has been affected, the bus runs too far east (Piccadilly), and the wind's still a-blowing, making cycling the 7 miles each way a difficult and exhausting prospect. And here comes the first of the predicted "thundery showers"!

[greenilex]

Hope you manage to find a bus to change on to...