Kitchen Garden Forum

Suddenly I notice it's totally dark at eight o'clock.
It's been like this all our lives and for millennia before that. So why are we surprised every autumn?

Last night I went up to the co-op at 6:15pm and my car reckoned it was dark enough to put the lights on........

Meanwhile, I see in deepest Bedfordshire there's been quaking of the earth as well as dark mornings and evenings....

C.

Would have been nice to be properly daylight during the day, we've barely seen across the valley all day through a misty drizzle.

The day length seems to have been completely at odds with what time of year the temperatures indicate. The last couple of weeks felt like October, today and this week it feels like late August again. It felt like spring or autumn during much of the summer due to the high winds, too. And as for the start of the year with all those storms, who knows?!

Our small tortoiseshell, red admiral and peacock butterflies are battling against the strong westerly wind to stay on the remaining buddleia flowers, red valerian and other flowers, but the sun is shining and the washing has dried in a jiffy|!

I felt the earth shudder...

2020 has challenged on so many fronts - Weather: early heavy rain, then bright down here & unusually warmish, then gusts that blew things right out of the ground, then too coolish in a blink. Nature: Well C19 & lock down certainly helped the furry ones & don't think I have re-sown as many times but kind of nice not passing road kill on the bypass & seeing shy things pop out during my solo walks through the woods to the allotment! Work: I am heartedly sick of masks & steamed up glasses but amazed at how quickly I have adjusted, kind of like chatting to the volunteers at the entrances but those virtual meetings are weird having to click the little hand up sign like at primary school to say something is disturbing & showed up the massive computer fails - good for me - my computer! Not keen on knowing some of my overseas friends were in ITU though but all tough & made it back for me to chat to again. Home: Mr is high risk & I'm in the mix of it but not on the coal face at the front line - both of us have never had so much gel on our hands! All of this has made us both miss the seasons changing but we both ran out the back door when the first geese made their way to the Marsh! Back to nature then! While we angst nature reminds!

It,s been such a bizarre and surreal year since Coronavirus descended on us that i,m afraid we,ve totally lost track of the seasons here. Half the time, being retired and both trying to shield As much as possible for health reasons we have problems Half the time trying to remember what day of the week it is!

Now the evenings are drawing in it will be just more of the same, but happening earlier in the day!! I don't think many of us will be enjoying much excitement over the coming weeks with the new regulations. I,ll be just stocking up with library books and probably looking forward to some early nights! Oh what an exciting life some of us lead !