Summer

Yesterday when we left work at just gone 5pm, the temperature was about 15 degrees celcius. It was warm, but muggy. By the time we had travelled a few miles in the car, the temperature had plummeted to 7 degrees, we had driven through torrential rain, thunder and lightning and were then bombarded by hail!

It has rained almost permanently for a whole week. That night the sky went a dark, purply grey and we had more thunder, rain and lightning. But this morning the sun is shining and bright and warm and everything is green and growing and almost stretching in the sun - escape at last from the relentless rain.

I walked down to the town market, bought some goodies for the kids (and some chocolate for me.. shh, no one else has found it yet!) and then walked home. I walked back through an alley and at one point, where there is a small car park at the top of a lane, there were blackberry bushes and they were burdened with ripe fruit.

Sticking very much to 'above doggy pee height' I tasted some of the ripe, juicy berries. They were warmed by the morning's sun and tasted of England. There is nothing so delicious as wild fruit, ripe and warm, juicy and 'scrumped'.

I checked my blackberries at home - at the bottom of the garden - they are ripe too. Blackberry and apple pie tomorrow!