I could have a career as a weather personage. No sooner had I posted about the sun shining and everything being lovely, than we experienced a couple of inches of snow in very short order. Made getting into and starting the car a tad more lengthy than normal, but it made the drive to church very scenic. I’ve never really considered Southampton Road an area of outstanding beauty of any sort, natural or man made. But sprinkle it liberally with the fairy dust of fresh snow and the massive trees at the mini-roundabout take on a Disney-esque look and feel. It’s real hard to concentrate in a service when what’s mostly going through your head are the lyrics to Let It Snow. You know the one,
Oh the weather outside is frightful,
But the fire is so delightful,
And since we’ve no place to go,
Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
There, now it’s going to be going around in your head all day. Sorry. Of course by the time the service ended, the snow had gone pretty much completely. Sun being the natural enemy of snow and all.
In some ways it’s a bit of a pity since the forest looks absolutely magical clothed in snow, just not normally at this time of the year. This week we have had the predicted bright sun from dawn until dusk (well nearly) and since the weekend is dragging itself into view …. it’s going to rain. Of course it is, we have a friend staying who is given to yomping through as much of the forest and shore as they possibly can in a weekend, so it’s time to dig out the wet weather gear methinks. With any luck we won’t have a repeat of a now legendary walk along (some) of the shingle bank to Hurst Point with a south westerly squall hitting us horizontally. Friend somehow contrived to be on the leeward side and being a good host I could hardly switch places could I? Since it was a. Late in the day and b. Late in the year, the fading light, such as there was forced an early conclusion barely two thirds of the way to Hurst Castle. Strangely we saw few other intrepid souls that afternoon. I’m not saying they weren’t there, it’s just that because of the lashing rain, the visibility was shall we say, a tad limited. So with my current track record, if I were to predict a re-run, what are the odds we will have wall to wall sunshine? It’s as well I’m not a betting man.