Spring has sprung! Has it?!

[oddoneout]

... my current machine isn't very accent-friendly - if I feel the need for accents in a case like this I would probably google the words in question to find an entry with the words equipped with the right accents, and then copy and paste back in to the text here. So I google tete a tete and find an entry for - tête-à-tête .

Hope this might be a help...

Yes that does help, much appreciated, not least because I stand a chance of remembering the tip!

[ahinton]

Yes that does help, much appreciated, not least because I stand a chance of remembering the tip!

It's a useful one, to be sure, but for anyone who uses MS Word and/or MS Outlook (I don't have the current versions so cannot be certain if what I'm about to suggest remains in date), select Insert and then Symbol to find most if not all of those that anyone might want to use.

[P. G. Tipps]

It's a useful one, to be sure, but for anyone who uses MS Word and/or MS Outlook (I don't have the current versions so cannot be certain if what I'm about to suggest remains in date), select Insert and then Symbol to find most if not all of those that anyone might want to use.

Completely off-topic, ahinton!

Spring does not necessarily mean a sudden welcome change in the weather but the noticeable amount of daylight we are afforded.

Who really cares about the vagaries of the British weather as if that were something particularly remarkable ?.

The really big sign of Spring for me is this weekend when suddenly we are catapulted back to those wonderful daylight evenings by way of the admittedly pematurely-termed 'Summer Time'.

So Sunday will be the start of 'Spring' for me ...

[ardcarp]

Like SA (near top in 2013) I'm a big follower of weather; probably for different reasons, because mine is an interest in sailing. One thing I do know is that the British Isles are very difficult do do any sort of long-range forecast for. The exact track of the typical Atlantic lows traversing from West to North-East is notoriously difficult to get right...also its timing....in spite of all the latest satellite and computer technology. Forecasting has improved for the 24 - 48 hour period; long enough for a Channel crossing. But the met office and Meteo France (also ECMWF for the real geeks) give forecasts of up to 10 days ahead, and you can bet your bottom dollar that by the time you get to day No. 10 it will be completely different from what they predicted, so one wonders what is the point?

Back to Spring. One thing that really annoys me about weather presenters on TV and Radio is when they say such things as "Winter's back again" or "Summer's come early". No it hasn't!

And back to wild-life. In spite of global warming, there remains a big difference between the North and the South of Britain. Particularly in recent years, some of the wild flowers hardly know it's been Winter here in the South West. And we've certainly had primroses and wild daffs out for weeks and weeks now. Mrs A. reported skylarks doing their stuff today just inland from Chesil Beach and The Fleet...near a delightfully named village, Langton Herring.

Another lovely thing about the changing seasons is the pattern of stars in the sky. (I learned astro-nav at one time.) When Orion starts to get lower and lower, you just know Summer isn't far off...and its reappearance is the harbinger of shorter days and the onset of Autumn.

[ahinton]

Completely off-topic, ahinton!

Indeed, but I was trying to be helpful about how to do accents for the possible benefit of another member; do you have a problem with that?

Spring does not necessarily mean a sudden welcome change in the weather but the noticeable amount of daylight we are afforded.

The amount of daylight that we are afforded changes no more than it does between any other pair of successive days, hance the sheer nonsense of putting the clocks forward and backward; in other words, there's no such thing as "daylight saving".

Who really cares about the vagaries of the British weather as if that were something particularly remarkable ?

Plenty of people do, although it is indeed unremarkable beyond nothing such vagaries and their effects.

The really big sign of Spring for me is this weekend when suddenly we are catapulted back to those wonderful daylight evenings by way of the admittedly pematurely-termed 'Summer Time'.

So Sunday will be the start of 'Spring' for me ...

No such thing. The harbinger of Spring certainly pertains, thankfully, but messing around with the clocks is not any part thereof.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I believed the equinox marked the beginning of spring, because my mother told me that.
I believed Europe and Asia were separate continents, because the atlas marked them in different colours.
I believed in Father Christmas, because my parents told me he would give me nice presents on Christmas morning, if I were a good boy.

But Frank Bedford believed 1st March marked he beginning of spring, because his parents told him that. I told him he was wrong.

But now I think the Bedfords probably got it right.

But the very idea of having four seasons is a human creation with no scientific basis. In equatorial regions, there is only one season, with the variation becoming more marked as the poles are approached. No particular day can be identified and even the general triggers vary within the different areas of our own country.

The Americans refer to autumn as "the fall", but that really begins after the summer solstice, when the daylight hours begin to diminish.

Perhaps there are only two seasons?

Vivaldi could have completed his set of concertos in half of the time.

[cloughie]

I believed the equinox marked the beginning of spring, because my mother told me that.
I believed Europe and Asia were separate continents, because the atlas marked them in different colours.
I believed in Father Christmas, because my parents told me he would give me nice presents on Christmas morning, if I were a good boy.

But Frank Bedford believed 1st March marked he beginning of spring, because his parents told him that. I told him he was wrong.

But now I think the Bedfords probably got it right.

But the very idea of having four seasons is a human creation with no scientific basis. In equatorial regions, there is only one season, with the variation becoming more marked as the poles are approached. No particular day can be identified and even the general triggers vary within the different areas of our own country.

The Americans refer to autumn as "the fall", but that really begins after the summer solstice, when the daylight hours begin to diminish.

Perhaps there are only two seasons?

Vivaldi could have completed his set of concertos in half of the time.

The Bedfords were only right if they were meteorologists!

Tchaikovsky reckoned there were 12 seasons but looking at the details I think he got them mixed up with months.

[greenilex]

The famous illustrations from the Berry book of hours certainly divide the year into twelve agricultural and other seasons.

I think farmers must still have monthly tasks - or has the modern drive for uniformity struck them too?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

"January brings the snow,
Makes our feet and fingers glow.

February brings the rain,
Thaws the frozen lake again.

March brings breezes, loud and shrill,
To stir the dancing daffodil.

April brings the primrose sweet,
Scatters daisies at our feet.

May brings flocks of pretty lambs,
Skipping by their fleecy dams.

June brings tulips, lilies, roses,
Fills the children's hands with posies.

Hot July brings cooling showers,
Apricots, and gillyflowers.

August brings the sheaves of corn,
Then the harvest home is borne.

Warm September brings the fruit;
Sportsmen then begin to shoot.

Fresh October brings the pheasant;
Then to gather nuts is pleasant.

Dull November brings the blast;
Then the leaves are whirling fast.

Chill December brings the sleet,
Blazing fire, and Christmas treat."

**************************

Months are to some extent human creations too, though there is some scientific basis for their existence. But there are approximately 13 lunar months. Any suggestions for a name for the missing one?

[BBMmk2]

Very nice there EA!!

[greenilex]

Unlucky month for some - how about Neptunes or some other ocean-related word? And time for a neptune or two?

[vinteuil]

Months are to some extent human creations too, though there is some scientific basis for their existence. But there are approximately 13 lunar months. Any suggestions for a name for the missing one?

... or perhaps start all over anew -

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Republican_Calendar

[cloughie]

"January brings the snow,
Makes our feet and fingers glow.

February brings the rain,
Thaws the frozen lake again.

March brings breezes, loud and shrill,
To stir the dancing daffodil.

April brings the primrose sweet,
Scatters daisies at our feet.

May brings flocks of pretty lambs,
Skipping by their fleecy dams.

June brings tulips, lilies, roses,
Fills the children's hands with posies.

Hot July brings cooling showers,
Apricots, and gillyflowers.

August brings the sheaves of corn,
Then the harvest home is borne.

Warm September brings the fruit;
Sportsmen then begin to shoot.

Fresh October brings the pheasant;
Then to gather nuts is pleasant.

Dull November brings the blast;
Then the leaves are whirling fast.

Chill December brings the sleet,
Blazing fire, and Christmas treat."

**************************

Months are to some extent human creations too, though there is some scientific basis for their existence. But there are approximately 13 lunar months. Any suggestions for a name for the missing one?

Back kn the day I wonder why February was trimmed to 28 (29) days rather than clipping a couple of days from 31 day months to even it out!

Add a verse to the rhyme
Lunar months would need another
Frankly its not worth the bother!

Flanders and Swan had other words, and I plagiarised them to describe a WI calendar but I won't go there now!

[Serial_Apologist]

"January brings the snow,
Makes our feet and fingers glow.

February brings the rain,
Thaws the frozen lake again.

March brings breezes, loud and shrill,
To stir the dancing daffodil.

April brings the primrose sweet,
Scatters daisies at our feet.

May brings flocks of pretty lambs,
Skipping by their fleecy dams.

June brings tulips, lilies, roses,
Fills the children's hands with posies.

Hot July brings cooling showers,
Apricots, and gillyflowers.

August brings the sheaves of corn,
Then the harvest home is borne.

Warm September brings the fruit;
Sportsmen then begin to shoot.

Fresh October brings the pheasant;
Then to gather nuts is pleasant.

Dull November brings the blast;
Then the leaves are whirling fast.

Chill December brings the sleet,
Blazing fire, and Christmas treat."

**************************

Months are to some extent human creations too, though there is some scientific basis for their existence. But there are approximately 13 lunar months. Any suggestions for a name for the missing one?

June brings tulips??? Global warming must have advanced a lot since that poem was written!

[aeolium]

June brings tulips??? Global warming must have advanced a lot since that poem was written!

I rather enjoyed Steve Bell's Global Warming Calendar in his 1990 book "Revolutionary If..." - bookplates 11-22 shown here in reverse monthly order from December:

http://www.belltoons.co.uk/bellworks/index.php/others/BOOKPLATES-COVERS/901200_BL007-SANTA