Although it’s been pretty wet of late, when the skies clear late in the day, it can yield some fabulous sunsets. Today was another of those days, and like so many of my photos this year, it was only taken a few yards from home.
Already, this month is heading for being one of the wettest Decembers on record in the UK, and today was another grim day. It pretty much rained all day, and although there has been no flooding around here, there was plenty of surface water to make driving difficult. A slow motion app on my phone allowed me to catch the ripples from the rain.
There’s a definite chill in the air these mornings, even when we are fortunate enough to get sunshine later, and the leaves have started to change colour already. I don’t mind the autumn (fall), but not looking forward to winter!
One of my winter ‘evening’ projects this year is to build a small model railway. I’d made a half-hearted attempt to build one previously, but it didn’t really work out… The challenge this year is to build a completely portable layout, so this one measures just 50cm x 50cm. It means that realism is somewhat compromised, but it’s still possible (just) to have a continuous track, with a couple of sidings. 
… a day makes. Yesterday was chilly, but with blue skies and bright sunshine, very much a spring day. Today however is even colder, the sky is dull grey, and it’s raining pretty hard just now. Those hardy souls venturing out are all carrying umbrellas. Feels more like November than March!
The rather cooler weather now we are back in England came as a bit of a shock after our glorious week in Gran Canaria ☀️☀️. However, the crocuses in the garden obviously reckon that Spring is on the way… A chance too to try the new 58mm lens converter for my phone. 
There’s no guarantee of warm weather and sunshine in the Canary Islands in February, but we hoped for temperatures in the low 20s, with at least some sunshine. Our expectations have been somewhat exceeded, with wall to wall sunshine all week, and as you see, the temperature peaked at an impressive 34°C this afternoon. So warm in fact that we had to seek shelter (in the bar of course!) 
Well, our winter sun holiday is upon us – an early start and a drive through some pretty ferocious winds (Storm Erik apparently) saw us in the lounge at Manchester airport for long enough for a quick drink before boarding. Gran Canaria here we come!
The hardy folks around here play tennis outdoors all year round. With three all weather courts, they even play through the winter, just as long as the playing surface isn’t too icy. This morning it was just 3.5°C, but the ladies were out there practicing as usual…
… came the sunshine. This morning’s short, sharp fall of snow caught everyone out around here – it looked like we had missed the snow that blanketed most of the UK yesterday, but it was not to be. Anyway, it didn’t last long; the sun came out and by midday it was mostly gone. Whether we get more remains to be seen…
