Stormy Weather II

[Serial_Apologist]

Many thanks to S-A for the welcome to London. It was sunny as we walked across Victoria Park earlier, but on the way back from our swim it was drizzling, and it has continued pretty cold.

Victoria Park brings back fond memories of the huge Anti-Nazi League march from Trafalgar Square and rally there in '79, and being entertained by Aswad, Misty in Roots and Tom Robinson. We felt like successors to the anti Mosley gathering in Cable Street in '36, except that this was peaceful. You didn't go swimming in the lake, I take it??

[greenilex]

No, in the York Halls as usual. Had to walk briskly on the way back and was glad of my heavy coat.

[Serial_Apologist]

No, in the York Halls as usual. Had to walk briskly on the way back and was glad of my heavy coat.

It was certainly chilly hanging around for 15 minutes at Ravenscourt Park Station on the District line after attending a gig at the Polish Centre last evening, while meanwhile four Piccadilly Line trains passed through the station going in the same direction, and the arrivals indicator went from five, to seven, to twelve minutes' waiting time, all of them inaccurate! I only just managed to make it for the 23.46 back to Sydenham Hill from Victoria after running with my still very painful left knee through the Underground thoroughfare, dodging revellers and others lost to their surroundings on iphones, and up the stairs two at a time! On arrival at just past midnight I braved the pain for a fast walk back to the flat, and checked the thermometer to find that the temperature was already close to freezing point.

Today the chill is still noticeable, the temperature not having exceeded 10 C. Giving the leg a bit of a rest I've been instating new washing lines in the common clothes drying compound. I'm the one who does this sort of thankless task here - repairs to washing lines broken by other residents; transferring unrecyclables from the blue recycling bine to the green general purpose ones, picking up crisp wrappers blown onto the premises, etc etc. I only do it because I have the time, being retired, I tell people.

So (as people these days always begin making a statement), it's all set to warm up this coming week, and should be in the low 20s by Friday. The still unanswerable question remains, will this trigger thundery conditions over the bank holiday weekend? It all depends on whether or not the big high over Scandinavia which has brought the cold winds manages to hold on, blocking the advancement of Atlantic weather systems, which would break the present generally stable conditions. Easter weekends are unfortunately notorious for breaking any decent weather that happens to be around!

[vinteuil]

... Easter weekends are unfortunately notorious for breaking any decent weather that happens to be around!

... even if Easter is as early as 22 March or as late as 25 April? *



[ * ... I think the next time Easter will be as late as 25 April is 2038; the next time it will be as early as 22 March is 2285. I suppose I may make 2038... ]






.

[DracoM]

Well, up here, it's been a day that has grown greyer and rawer with every passing hour, with a bustling, boisterous easterly.

[cloughie]

Overnight it rained almost continually and today showery with a very cold wind. Tomorrow forecast similar. I’m looking forward to the hot Easter weekend.

[oddoneout]

Still chilly, not surprising with an easterly wind, but the sun made a difference when it got out. The coming week is going to see much hefting of watering cans as the wind continues to dry things out and there is no obvious sign of any rain to come. Perhaps I should get the 3 hoses linked together(garden is very long) and looped along the fence ready to fill the waterbutts at the end of the garden - that might precipitate some precipitation!

[Serial_Apologist]

Still chilly, not surprising with an easterly wind, but the sun made a difference when it got out. The coming week is going to see much hefting of watering cans as the wind continues to dry things out and there is no obvious sign of any rain to come. Perhaps I should get the 3 hoses linked together(garden is very long) and looped along the fence ready to fill the waterbutts at the end of the garden - that might precipitate some precipitation!

My dad always claimed the best way to get it to rain was to wash your car! I call this the modern-day equivalent of the native American rain dance!

[BBMmk2]

I think we will be blessed this week with warmer weather?

[cloughie]

I think we will be blessed this week with warmer weather?

After the wind and rain today!

[DracoM]

No rain yet here, but wow! is it blowing from the east or what!

[oddoneout]

The sun is managing to get through the cloud a bit and is making a difference to the temperature a little. Doing errands in the car reminded me of the time as a teenager the family ended up in the South of France on a camping holiday when there was a particularly hard Mistral blowing - perishing cold outdoors, but inside quickly getting warm and stuffy thanks to the sun. It was a constant round of muffling up and shedding layers, and the locals were made grumpy by the wind, not least because it was damaging the fruit blossom. My seedling peach which is full of blossom this year is fated not to bear fruit thanks to overnight frosts and these cold dessicating(and bee inimical)winds. Never mind it wasn't planted with a crop in mind.

[Serial_Apologist]

The sun is managing to get through the cloud a bit and is making a difference to the temperature a little. Doing errands in the car reminded me of the time as a teenager the family ended up in the South of France on a camping holiday when there was a particularly hard Mistral blowing - perishing cold outdoors, but inside quickly getting warm and stuffy thanks to the sun. It was a constant round of muffling up and shedding layers, and the locals were made grumpy by the wind, not least because it was damaging the fruit blossom. My seedling peach which is full of blossom this year is fated not to bear fruit thanks to overnight frosts and these cold dessicating(and bee inimical)winds. Never mind it wasn't planted with a crop in mind.

I stayed in the south of France with an extended local family aged 15 one summer. Apart from my sharp ear picking up on the provençale accent, to the embarrassment of my Parisian hosts ("Martigues? Ce n'est pas loainge" etc), each afternoon we would play open-air tennis (at which game I was hopeless) before heading down to the beach. The tennis court bordered a deep north-south railway cutting, or vertical-sided fissure through the limestone, more like, over which a small concrete bridge carried a minor road, at each end of which was a sign warning motorists and pedestrians against using the bridge when the Mistral was blowing. All the characteristic conifers of the region there showed signs of "wind-pruning" from the north, as can also be seen in how trees and shrubs are shaped on westward coasts in this country, leaning forward with the wind shearing their backs into a crewcut. The weather, while there, alternated between a hot and humid southerly, the Sirocco, with poor visibility, and the dessicating northerly Mistral, which would bring maximum temperatures down to about 24 C, but at the same time yield the clearest, darkest blue skies I have ever seen anywhere.

What a difference a slight tilting of the air mass source makes! This time yesterday the temperature barely reached 10 C; today it was 12 C at noon. Two ladies at the bus stop just outside, one black, the other of Latin American appearance, answered my friendly "Isn't it warm today" with "YES! And how are YOU?" in perfect unison. Narcissi are enjoying an extended period here this year. The pink cherry blossoms, which are plentiful in this district, are already almost over.

[oddoneout]

Apart from my sharp ear picking up on the provençale accent, to the embarrassment of my Parisian hosts

I was taught French by a Provencal lady, and when the snooty Parisian girlies came over to do their teacher training practice they were always very rude to those of us taught by this person, complaining about our accent. The other 3 French teachers in school were all English, and one of them had an atrocious accent, so it was definitely snobbishness at play. I didn't care, our lessons were far more 'lively/interesting'(she was a moody woman) and for the 2 O level years were taught entirely in French so we ended up thinking in the language, which made us more confident about using it.

[Serial_Apologist]

I was taught French by a Provencal lady, and when the snooty Parisian girlies came over to do their teacher training practice they were always very rude to those of us taught by this person, complaining about our accent. The other 3 French teachers in school were all English, and one of them had an atrocious accent, so it was definitely snobbishness at play. I didn't care, our lessons were far more 'lively/interesting'(she was a moody woman) and for the 2 O level years were taught entirely in French so we ended up thinking in the language, which made us more confident about using it.

Our English French teacher for A Level had a terrible accent, too. It was he who took us for the oral part of the exam, and I always reckon he marked me down to only 59% out of jealousy for the fact that my accent was far better than his. I am sure this is what led to me only getting an E grade pass. Like yourself I benefitted from having had a French-only speaking teacher at the age of 7, whom we just called "Madame". We all loved her. No one ever told us her actual name. In 1968 I was still good enough to pass for a Frenchman with some French guests at a hotel where I was working in Switzerland. "Lourdes? ah, Londres!" was what they said when I told them where I came from. Being elderly, they were rather hard of hearing. :o