Stormy Weather

[amateur51]

Another gloriously mild, sunny, dry day of Spring weather here in London

[Chris Newman]

Ha! Take it easy, S-A, some think I belong in the zoo anyway...

I don't think they have any Reds in the zoo, they'd probably be prosecuted for it...
I live about 8 miles North of the City Centre (and Philharmonic Hall), on the edge of the countryside, we have a small population of Red Squirrels locally, more Grey of course, but they've co-existed for many years. 5 miles north of us is the Freshfield nature reserve which is an important colony for Reds, based in the pine woods. There you can feed the Reds by hand.

I am not an expert on squirrels. Fifty years ago, when I was a kid there were grey squirrels (most of 'em) and red squirrels. Nowadays, in Salisbury (and yesterday in Bournemouth) I see a lot of reddish squirrels. Not grey at all, but orange of body, getting greyer towards the tip of the tail and smaller than the greys but without the reds' stick-up ears. Are they up to something?

[handsomefortune]

so 70s

how very fashionable! along with tan corduroy trousers, fair isle knits, (dyed) platinum grey hair, and other bits n bobs that older gens have learned to shun.

i'm not writing about grey squirrels again on here, since mrs squirrel & family disappeared straight after i last posted about them! where do they go? they can't be hibernating, as the weather is not continually cold ....but tends to shift between summer temps, to icey winds, from day to day. my fig tree doesn't know if it's shedding its leaves, or keeping them.

the one consistent 'change' is that most people have/had a cold/virus/headache thingy. today was grey and warm, with the sky 'hanging', like a fake ceiling far too low down. i hope it's not the same ominus weather all week. rain is apparently predicted ....( bring it on...) but 'they' have been predicting rain all summer, so big deal!

still, i am ecstatic that power suppliers are not coining in the £s, due to threats of'continuous arctic snow - just like the very worst of last year', as also (exciteably & wrongly) predicted. this far, touch wood, happily 'they' are wrong.

[marthe]

Our grey squirrels are very happy indeed because of the fresh supply of bread crusts placed under their tree.

There is still some "mellow fruitfulness" going on here (but no mists). We've got ripe figs and a second crop of raspberries ripening.

Weather is still on the mild side but the light is changing, taking on that autumnal quality that is a harbinger of the change from Daylight Savings Time to Standard Time during the first weekend of November. When do the clocks go back in the UK?

Saly, how are you? I miss seeing your posts here.

[greenilex]

European Summer Time ends on Sunday 30th October - I'll have young visitors, so probably won't spend the extra hour asleep...

[Anna]

Last night was horrnedous gale force winds and torrential, non-stop, rain. This morning dawned bright but it's the first day it's actually smelt autumnal. Hate it when the clocks change, I know it's only an hour but it throws my body clock out.

I went today to see a Financial Consultant at the building society, not an employee of theirs but from a well-known financial firm which I won't name. His name was Craig. He had 3 attempts at working out what the actual percentage increase of £x on a sum of £x over the last 5 years had been. Eventually he concluded it was about 3 to 4% In actual fact it's 5%, but I didn't like to tell him. He was having a bad day. He wasn't as bad as Mr. Gonzales, the supposedly whizzkid of investments, at our local Bank who could not grasp that the share prices on the FTSE had hidden decimal points. <doh emoticon> I may have very little in the way of assets but I've more confidence in a shoebox under the bed.

Edit: Where is salymap, is she OK?

[salymap]

Thanks Anna, salymap has serious back problems but hopes to be err. BACK soon. xx

I do post a bit but wrote too much rubbish anyway.

[Anna]

Thanks Anna, salymap has serious back problems but hopes to be err. BACK soon. xx

I do post a bit but wrote too much rubbish anyway.

No, not rubbish. Is your new chiropractor helping you at all? Back pain is so debilitating, there seems no relief at times except to adopt a military posture (as my doctor told me on the one occasion that I suffered from it!) and grin and bear it.

[Serial_Apologist]

there seems no relief at times except to adopt a military posture (as my doctor told me on the one occasion that I suffered from it!) and grin and bear it.

Was that what prince Harry was doing in Afghanistan, when, being interviewed on some TV doc following his contribution to "our" effort there, he was firing off a few rounds in a desultory kind of way?

Welcome, err, BACK, saly - we've missed you!

[antongould]

Thanks Anna, salymap has serious back problems but hopes to be err. BACK soon. xx

I do post a bit but wrote too much rubbish anyway.

Rubbish you do not!

[mangerton]

Thanks Anna, salymap has serious back problems but hopes to be err. BACK soon. xx

I do post a bit but wrote too much rubbish anyway.

Oh no you didn't! (panto season just round the corner) Best wishes for a speedy recovery from a fellow sufferer.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

i trust your back relents Salymap and please allow us to have a different appreciation of your posts than you imply ...

the struggle with the fags starts in earnest soon ... just lit one, which is naughty and not very pleasant surprisingly .... been using the replacement devices and substances in the hope they will be easier to relinquish than the ciggie habit ... glorious weather. best autumnal blue skies and fresh not to say nippy air in the middle kingdom ...

[BBMmk2]

I agree with the aforersaid sentiments from abovce posters, salymap. I always enjoy reading your posts. A lot of mine are rubbish, by the looks of them!

We had a torrential storm last night. MrsBBM said thast we had a thunderstorm! A mixed bag today though. Showers, sunshine etc.

[Serial_Apologist]

i trust your back relents Salymap and please allow us to have a different appreciation of your posts than you imply ...

the struggle with the fags starts in earnest soon ... just lit one, which is naughty and not very pleasant surprisingly .... been using the replacement devices and substances in the hope they will be easier to relinquish than the ciggie habit ... glorious weather. best autumnal blue skies and fresh not to say nippy air in the middle kingdom ...

No sooner than the invite for the flu jab drops on the mat will I be joining you, calum - they always ask, "and are you a smoker?"

Best o' luck with the subs!

Heavy, slow-moving showers trundling north over the Home Counties today. Someone spotted a funnel cloud near here yesterday, (an incipient tornado!). "Ooh, that's a strange, tube-like thing coming from that cloud", she told herself, "I wonder what it could be?"

[mercia]

a funnel cloud

I watched the formation of the water spout off the Sussex coast yesterday - quite exciting - and accompanied by possibly the loudest claps of thunder I've ever heard

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-15453834