Category: weather

#1404 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn weather, YardeningLeave a comment
Drying Washing in the Yard 2025 ©theoldmortuary

We have not yet hit the giddy heights of drying washing in under two hours, as we can easily do in the Summer months. But in just under a week our washing lines have gone from support for our festive winter lights to drying an enormous load in eight hours.

The progress in our yard in one week is madness. We have gone from rain every day since Christmas to no rain for 10 days.

We were definitely late to start yardening jobs this year. 10 days of dry weather has kicked our yardening backsides. There have been some winter casualties, drownings mostly. All consigned to compost over the last weekend. One miraculous recovery.

We have had a Palm tree for about 10 years, he has moved, in a pot, from London to Cornwall and now Devon. 10 years in survival mode, never really thriving but surviving in a pretty lacklustre way. He was planted in a raised bed two or three years ago and just sat there, moodily surviving, not really bothering to make roots or friends with any other nearby plants.

Over the weekend I cleared the debris from an unplanned Pampas Grass . Hiding under the fringes of the Pampas was a glorious and vigorous palm tree. Solidly rooted into the ground and probably a foot taller than when I last saw him. There is no horticulural logic to this. He has been living in a bog for the last 6 months, his only source of nutrients is our dog poo, coffee grounds hygienic/organic dog poo disposal system.

Further tidying up will prepare him, for the first time, for some proud yardening  photos. Not something I ever imagined doing.

#1342 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn weather1 Comment

There is no sugar-coating of today. It is raining again.

Life is very different for us with only one dog. Hugo was an intrepid walker in all weathers. Heavy rain required him to wear a coat, something he took a dim view of. Lola on the other hand takes a dim view of any walk in weather that is not to her taste.

She was determinedly asleep when I suggested getting a warm, from the oven , chocolate croissant from our local bakery to make a wet Sunday morning a little more tolerable.

@Jacka Bakery

Under normal circumstances I quite like February. It is over in just 28 days and delivers us quite nicely into March which is always a rather optimistic month. By now I would normally have started little jobs in the yard. Tiny tweakments that serve no truly useful improvements but make me feel better about our outside space.

This morning, just before the croissant adventure I peeped out. One of our daffodils is clearly feeling the wet weather malaise more deeply than even Lola. A whole Greek tragedy in our back yard.

The wet weather is getting to us all.

#1424 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn weatherLeave a comment

Basking, or the lack of it, has become a topic in rain soaked Devon and Cornwall. We have been so deprived of winter sunlight, whilst also having the highest winter rainfall, that few of us have felt sunlight on our faces for weeks.

We were lucky and caught several hours of sunshine on the North Coast of Cornwall a couple of weeks ago but only a few miles away on the south coast there was none. 

Rainfall stops random street conversations, as we walk with our heads down and dampness tracking into the areas our waterproofs fail to protect. Rainfall has also minimised the amount of time our bobbing group  has been able to bob. Determined sea swimmers do seem to manage it . But the Bobbers are a mixed event crew, we swim and we talk and then we bask. Making the most of whatever week willed winter sunshine turns up between the rain. For the greatest part of this winter even week willed winter sun has failed to turn up.

Rainfall and a lack of winter sun has also deprived us of the ability to talk about our favourite subject, the weather, with random strangers, on the street. Unless of course we find ourselves outside in the few moments of watery sunshine.

“Perhaps we will have a good Spring to make up for it”

“This isn’t going to last today” 

Long term hope dashed by short term reality.

Nearly a whole winter gone in a deluge.

Oh, we really need some sunshine. We need to talk about the weather.

Basking where are you?

Fictitious Sunshine

#1414 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn weatherLeave a comment

3rd Feb 2026 is not quite as inspirational as 3 years ago. Today has dawned as greige as greige can be. Hard to find my bloggers muse.

The day absolutely needs a touch of aqua to lighten the mood.

Aqua is an instant mood booster, particularly on a greige day. Not one of my favourite colours in the normal  run of things but greige is not my favourite place to be at any time of year. But in hunting out this picture of rinsing water some lovely aqua images popped up.

The sea at Monomvasia

Aqua or turquoise makes the world a better place. We are promised another couple of days of heavy rain so Lola and I took two morning walks  in the greige while the greige was dryish. There was no specific rain but the atmosphere felt wet. People seemed to be weighed down by the mud beneath their feet and the promise of more rain. The urge to get fresh air is a powerful motivator. For me and Lola it was a reward for dull jobs achieved in a timely way. Not that she was particularly involved in the dull jobs but she appreciated the R and R break afterwards.

I returned refreshed and ready to write about a dull day enhanced with images and memories of a bit of turquoise. She has returned unaware of my problem with greige. She is just happy to have been out.

A dogs actual view of life is somewhat greiger  than mine even on a fabulous day so she has no idea what I am missing.

This afternoon I will be more dog, just happy to be out.

#1409 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn weather, Winter1 Comment

Waking up with a different perspective. Not a deep philosophical epiphany. Just the first morning with actual sunshine since the big winter/post-Christmas tidy-up and I am facing our Ikea lampshade from a different direction.

I believe we are at the end of the urge to tidy up and reposition furniture. There has been some clearing out but I sense more could be done when the daylight hours actually provide genuine daylight. This morning’s early effort was short lived. As morning tips into the afternoon a luminous Greige is the default version of daylight.

Similar light fitting, same lampshade, different room.

We have had between twice and three times the normal level of rainfall in January. The last two days of the month are scheduled to drop even more heavy rain on our already sodden souls. It has crossed my mind this morning that these lampshades are like mood reflectors. Upstairs the sun-touched one brought me the same visual joy as a tasty meringue, downstairs I have just replicated a grey raincloud. Nobody needs another one of those in my humble opinion.

I appreciate that other people in other locations might have a different perspective. Which is exactly where this blog began.

A circular economy of thought…

#1302 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn weather1 Comment
Firestone Bay

The last public holiday in England before Christmas Day. A day that often disappoints with slightly grumpy weather. Today though, was gorgeous and this panoramic view is like a great turquoise smile expressing exactly how a holiday Monday should be.

I had a swim and didn’t want it ever to end, but superb swims, like all good things must come to an end. The balmy waters of Firestone Bay were just perfect today. There is a suggestion that the weather will turn tomorrow…

And just like that the rain arrived overnight.

Very disappointing weather behaviour. Of course exactly the sort of thing that underlines that the scrag end of summer has established itself as a transitional season and that layers and waterproofs may be needed for all future adventures.

Tuesdays forecast.

#1188 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity, weather1 Comment
Sunset in Devonport Park.

When I wrote yesterday’s blog I had no idea it was the last one of January. Somehow I missed the anticipation of the end of the longest month.

Which is a sign, I suppose, that taking a more positive attitude to Winter is having some effect.

On a positive note we are 2/3 done with the official winter months.

I know I am not alone with my slightly dismal attitude. People wouldn’t write books and articles about positive winter attitudes if  winter was all ticketty boo for the majority.

A SouthWest English winter does not look like this.

Fictional/Fantasy Devonport Park

What can I say about switching my mindset from endurance to tolerance?

Seasons are a bit like work colleagues or club members or any other group of humans. There is always one that has to be tolerated, made allowances for and most importantly celebrated when they leave.

So good morning February let’s get this winter malarkey over with.

I may even sign your leaving card with a cheery message wishing you well with your future in the Southern Hemisphere. I will watch and make sure you leave.

#1116 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn weather2 Comments

I have high hopes of Storm Bert who is rumbling in this morning.

I have never had a bad experience with a Bert. Berts in my experience are mostly clean old gentlemen wearing a hint of Old Spice aftershave. Berts who have fallen on harder times may not be as clean or fragranced but they have always seemed amendable. Bert is a solid working-class name. Bertie is more of a socially mobile name, George VI was known as Bertie, short for Albert.

I would rather ask a Bert to do a job than I would a Bertie.

Right now Bert is harrumphing down our chimneys and making the trees sway.  I quite look forward to painting him when he has revealed his stormy personality.

Snow hit Devon and Cornwall Thursday. We saw nothing of it on our little peninsula that juts into the sea. But the effects of it made the day quite a challenge.

Hugo was due some more jaw surgery so we set off early to the vets. No vets had made it into work from their homes on Bodmin Moor or Dartmoor. All surgery apart from Hugos was cancelled. I left him in the hopes of  vets arriving eventually.

There are only two major roads that take traffic in and out of Cornwall and Devon to the wider world of everywhere else. Unknown to me one of them, the A30 had been closed at 5am which is why the vets were struggling.

The less efficient of the two roads, the A38, became overwhelmed. The A38 is the road I use for the 20 minute journey to and from the vets. In total I should have spent one hour twenty minutes on the A38. Thursday, my actual total was closer to 5 hours. I could have planned my day so much better.Hugo on the other hand had a blast of a day. No surgery, a late breakfast and ample opportunity for cuddles with veterinary nurses who had time on their hands.

In the time it has taken me to write these few words Bert has gone from gusty to glum. He may not be one of the nicer Berts of my aquaintance.

In other news the festive window dressing is finished. Father Christmas/Santa in a sailing boat arrived. I started making a window feature after seeing them in the back streets of Chelsea and Westminster about 10 years ago.

From the inside
From the outside

Today I discovered there is a trend for frontscaping a house.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/nov/23/doorscaping-stir-up-sunday-christmas-traditions-silver-sixpence?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR34hiftyFCvaGLpEl5MSjxpJ8rJMMx9UQR2J1ml6EU9PeFp0gy_GiAeDKQ_aem_SarZRnvZrpouSER2NS-nSA

I’m not sure how I feel about this.

#801 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn weather2 Comments

What do you complain about the most?

Almost certainly the weather is the thing I moan about the most. Not perhaps to other people, but my internal dialogue is a vivid cacophony of weather considerations. I was not always a weather watcher, but ten years as a dog owner has made me appreciate the value of a walk without rain, or more unusually, a walk without scolding hot pavements. I have three weather apps on my phone. In addition to my dog walking considerations there is also the small matter of sea swimming. You might think that plunging into the sea year round would make the weather largely irrelevant,but storms and rainfall affect safety and water quality. There is also the small matter of changing after a swim. Rain on a salty body makes drying and dressing really tricky. Everything becomes sticky or tacky. Clothes that would normally glide on get caught in mysterious places or cling to the first piece of skin they touch.

Tiny garden weather stations are a thing. Controlled by a smartphone they provide hyperlocal weather information. I am a little tempted to get one. I might moan internally about the weather, but I have also become fascinated and intrigued by how the weather can change my life.

While writing this I realised I preferred the word mithering to moaning. The dictionary suggests there is nothing to choose between them.

I am not by nature a complainer or even a moaner in the normal day to day. But being a weather mitherer has something about it which I rather like.

#706 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity, weatherLeave a comment
Flood gates ready.

Storm #3 of the storm season has had quite an impact.

Not perhaps in the way I may have thought though. Ciarán reminded a friend that I had painted Storm Agnes and wondered if she was for sale. She is as it happens and now she is off to a new home.

Storm Agnes

Storm Babet didn’t really impact us too much although she did take out the road to one of my regular beaches.

In the eye of the storm at 2am

I know how I would paint Babet, a voluptuous storm, who caused chaos in an unexpected place with less energy than you would think. A storm directed from a chaise long perhaps.

Ciarán though, no clues in the name . Until I looked him up known as ‘ the little dark one’ Keir-on is how the weather forecasters pronounce the name. Ciarán is doing dramatic, theatrical stuff on our coast. Attention grabbing and flamboyant splashing and crashing on the outdoor lido, the sort of thing that gets you noticed. Hyperlocally Ciarán has been less wildly beautiful. More of a truculent bully, pushing over the bins and scattering domestic rubbish on the streets. Here he is just bashing the steps down to the tidal pool.

I have a little idea how he will be painted now. The little dark storm