‘To be imprison’d in the viewless winds/ And blown with restless violence round about / The pendent world…’ (Measure for Measure)
It’s been a relief having entered a spell of milder weather where the sun occasionally makes an appearance and a hints of the coming Spring bring signs of cheer. This has been the most consistently wettest and windiest winter at the corner house since I first arrived, back in 2010. Venturing out a short while back, on a walk up the lane to its highest point, I was leaning heavily into a persistent wall of invisible pressure that had to be clocking up speeds of some 70 – 80 mph.
The storms were serious enough to cause power outages on separate days and all normal communications went down hereabouts. Out came the candles, tea lights and series of battery operated camping lights and the early evening darkness was warmed alight enough to be made workable in. Smokeless coal and a regular stock of logs along with the oil powered Aga for cooking and heating carried us through the mini-emergency.
The garage workshop, which forms the sheltering west side of the gravelled yard, flooded a fortnight ago for the first time ever. The water table below the permanent upland pasture that surrounds us must have reached saturation point. The excess water oozed out of the slightly higher neighbouring meadow, through the drystone garden wall and into our wood clad outbuilding, streaming over its concrete floor before draining away. No permanent harm done but a reminder of what to expect from now on in wintertime. Curious to know if further evidence of climate change will express itself in an opposite state of more severe heat and drought during summers to come.
Learning the lesson from Storm Arwen (See journal for Dec 7th 2021: Arwen and After) we now have an emergency LPG powered generator installed, off the floor, in a corner of the garage/workshop, but didn’t go through the motions to activate it on this occasion. Keeping the water pump and freezers going would be priority. To be more confident, when better weather returns, we’ll have to go through the switching drill.
Rubbish weather outside means there’s no excuse not to get on with long delayed jobs inside. One such is repainting the attic bedroom the grandchildren use as their base when visiting. I love the challenge, once finally started, and catch up on a lot of radio programmes and podcasts in the process.
Clean out the scores of houseflies hibernating in the rebate of the two Velux windows set in the sloping roof. That job completed I go on this past week to repaint the walls in Kim’s studio. Moving some of her former models and palette of coloured pencils in the process.
On a cheerful note, Spring flowers are come again…most noticeably aconites, lungwort and snowdrops. (The latter still spreading happily of its own accord to new sites in garden banks and beds) The host of daffodils both on the roadside and in the more sheltered yard side copse are starting to bloom.
Unusual seasonal visitors joining the home crew of garden birds at the seed feeder have been a pair of Lesser Redpolls. At least I think that’s what they were but I couldn’t get a closer look at these gregarious finches for long enough to make sure they were not the very similar looking linnets, flocks of which were previously spotted a few years back on neighbouring farmland.
STEPHEN TOMLIN 