Stormy Weather

[Chris Newman]

Thanks, salymap....your spell workedIt's raining

[salymap]

Oh goody, I wonder if it works for nice sunshine too.

[salymap]

Morning any Stormyweatherites who have surfaced on this damp and gloomy day.

How is it where you are?

PS Gerontius tonight, [for those that love it as I do.]

[greenilex]

The two new apple trees have interesting but rather late unfurlings taking place - guess they're happy.

Have just had nice news of a new production at the King's Head Islington by the EPOC (pocket opera) people.

[Curalach]

Wet and windy here today Saly. The daffs are being battered and broken which is such a pity as there are thousands of them in our garden. Ah well, there's always next year.

[Mahlerei]

Morning all

Moogly old day here, damp and breezy. must get back to work (sigh).

[Chris Newman]

A dramatic day so far. Woken this morning at about 5.30a.m. by smell of burning and sounds of sirens. Outside the window it is very smokey. Wake up lodger and get dressed quickly. A quick persusal of street shows the fire is not in immediate vicinity, phew!! Two hundred yards away we trace it to the Market /Guildhall Square where the roof of the Market Inn is well ablaze and has spread to the adjacent Charter Restaurant and top floor of Stoby's Fish and Chip shop. Nearly 80 firemen from as far away as Swindon and Southampton arrive. The Market Inn (c.1723) has been gutted as has one floor of the restaurant and the employment agency above. Costas Coffee shop below the restaurant has been flooded as has the chippy and the Spanish Tapas bar on the other side of the pub. Much of the town centre is closed off as structures are deemed dangerous.

30 years ago the chippy and neighbouring restaurant were burnt to the ground but were rebuilt. I guess one of them will have to rename itself the Double Pheonix. Worrying for all the nice folk whose jobs suddenly stop.

[salymap]

If you are moving Chris I should get further away from those buildings if you can. Things are said to go in threes. saly

[marthe]

What drama and sadness for those affected by the fire. Just yesterday, an English friend (and long-time resident of RI) phoned to tell me that the pub her father owned burned to the ground recently. It was called the Pandora Inn in Mylor, Cornwall www.pandorainn.com/index.asp By coincidence, mutual friends here in Newport lived nearby the inn some years ago and were frequent visitors to the Pandora. It's always sad to see a venerable building go up in flames. Chris, I hope your town centre can rebuild quickly so that people can get on with their lives.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

It's very windy here. The felt roof has been blown off our summerhouse and a tile has been dislodged from the house roof.
I'm just waiting for it to die down a bit before tackling the summerhouse.

[Nick Armstrong]

Morning any Stormyweatherites who have surfaced on this damp and gloomy day.

How is it where you are?

PS Gerontius tonight, [for those that love it as I do.]

Started overcast after night rain, but since lunchtime beautifully sunny albeit blustery here in central London.

Thanks for the Gerontius reminder saly - I don't know if I love it as much as you, but I love it very much indeed!

[salymap]

Caliban, it sounds as though you do,as you are going to listen. I go back to Heddle Nash, then Richard Lewis, as Gerontius. However, I know several really musical people who turn up their noses at it.

[amateur51]

If you are moving Chris I should get further away from those buildings if you can. Things are said to go in threes. saly

It's being so cheerful that keeps you going, saly!

[salymap]

It's okay am51 I've apologised to Chris elsewhere. I know fires aren't funny but he may be thinking of moving anyway so it was a feeble joke.I'm glad no-one was apparently hurt and sorry about the old building, which can't be replaced.

[Lateralthinking1]

Charcoal grey in the Croydon suburbs giving a fluorescence to the daffodils and hyacinths.

I would like to ask people for their recent tree experiences. In the last six months, in no less than five directions from my house, and in the immediate vicinity, tree "surgeons". Is it only here that people have suddenly developed a fetish for razing trees to the ground? Each time, the story is that they are rotting. I'm beginning to think that there must be a toxic dump below this hill. It makes me quite miserable actually - increasingly beyond the boundary, there is just the sight of sky, concrete and stumps.