Saturday 7 April 2012

Capricious weather.


Traditionally, here in the UK, Easter weather is capricious, regardless of when Easter is. I was surprised to hear our local newreader on TV admit the other day that she had absolutely no idea how they calculated Easter. As I understand it, Easter Sunday is the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring Equinox. If I have got it wrong then I have no doubt somebody will point it out to me - that is one of the good things about blogland.

We had that one week of absolutely glorious weather with temperatures just creeping into the twenties; now it is not even ten degrees. I think things like this ladybird, that came out in the warm sunshine, will be going back into hybernation - or even dying - in the cold and wet.

Yes, it is very fickle. Our cattle, still indoors, can smell the grass growing and they do get restless. The trouble with letting them out on to the new grass now is that it really has not grown enough, which means they will eat it down quickly and - as the farmer says - they will get on top of it throughout the season and it will never catch up. So they will have to stay in a little longer and eat up more silage. Let's hope that all farmers have enough silage to last them over the next week or two.

I have just watched the Oxford/Cambridge boat race and I must say it really was an absolute farce today. As you probably know by now, somebody swam into the path of the boats and they had to stop the race. Then the current was so strong and the wash of the boats was so high (I have been to see it once and you cannot possibly imagine how high the wash is) that it took them a long time to re-start the race; then Oxford got too near to Cambridge in spite of being warned several times and got an oar broken off for their misdemeanour; finally at the end one of the Oxford crew collapsed from exhaustion. I do hope he is going to be alright - as I write I have not heard an update and both teams were so very subdued at the end.

The Boat Race is one of the big events of the year, along with the Derby, the Grand National and the Masters - all of which we watch avidly. That it should be messed up like this is so sad - I wonder if the chap in the water was trying to protest about something - no doubt we shall hear all about it if he was. One thing is for sure, he messed it up for an awful lot of people.

Enjoy your Easter, wherever you are - and don't eat too many chocolate eggs.

And speaking ofchocolate eggs - at the village coffee morning yesterday morning, I bought a delightful knitted duckling which had a chocolate egg inside it. In romantic fashion I sat the duckling by the farmer's plate at tea time. He said he would eat it during the evening. Somebody had other ideas. I was on my computer in the hall when I heard a clatter - went into the kitchen to investigate. Tess had been up on the table, knocked the duckling off onto the floor, got the egg out of the duckling and half-eaten it! When she saw me she scuttled under the kitchen table, lay on her back and wagged her tail. Well, at least it has cut the calories yesterday for the farmer.

7 comments:

Rarelesserspotted said...

Hi Weaver, You were spot on regarding yor calculation: In 725, the Venerable Bede apparently wrote, "The Sunday following the full Moon which falls on or after the equinox will give the lawful Easter." (Wikipedia)
It's very drizzly here on the banks of the Humber although the new word for this kind of weather is 'sprinkles' apprently which sounds slightly rique for some reason. Just one lonely Cadburys Flake chocolate egg for me to enjoy while everyone else is in bed.

Gwil W said...

Around the world millions will switch on their TVs to watch the Easter Sunday blessing from Rome - the so called urbi et orbi- (thankfully the 60-odd languages that the 85-year old pontifax struggles valiantly through do not include Welsh) many more millions will munch their way through their chocolate eggs - and many millions will probably sit in bank holiday traffic jams - I personally will open a can of Apostle Beer a staggering 7.6% proof which I think is only available at Easter, but what does it all mean?

Heather said...

Naughty Tess and poor Farmer! I forgot to watch the Boat Race this year and hadn't heard the outcome. How infuriating for both teams when they train so long and hard.
The weather has been very erratic this year, but I can remember snow at Easter some years back and we can never be quite sure what it will do. It must a headache for farmers and growers who need certain conditions for so many aspects of their work.

H said...

I spent yesterday afternoon transporting elder son from Derby to Shrewsbury, so I missed the boat race completely. I think the two crews were rightly furious to have all of the months of training hi-jacked by one selfish individual. All of that work in the cold and the wet and the snow and...

jill said...

Happy Easter Pat hope you have enjoyed your weekend so far xx

Titus said...

Happy Easter, Weaver. Certainly capricious here: constant dizzle this evening, in fact, getting darned near dreich!

I think it was the Council of Nicea that decided the way to set Easter, and of course it's done that way so that it follows the Jewish Passover, the timing of which is moon-dictated.

Thanks for the Boat Race update - missed it this year. What a shame.

MarmaladeRose said...

Aaw naughty Tess, lol. Sneaky dog did almost exactly the same thing about a fortnight ago but with a bar of chocolate bought for me as a cheer-me-up gift from a friend. She opened the door to the attic, jumped on the bed, snaffled the chocolate bar out of a bag and lay in the middle of the bed and ate the chocolate. I wouldn't have known if it wasn't for the dog hair and empty wrapper!