Today’s guest picture, brightening a gloomy day here, was sent to me from sunny Barbados by my namesake and near neighbour Tom who is on holiday there. He is to be seen waving in the picture as he stands behind the remains of one of the biggest guns ever built, the product of the HARP project.
We had one of those days today about which the less said the better so I shall try and match my blog to it.
It had rained very heavily overnight and was still raining when we woke up. Our neighbour Liz popped in for a moment and stayed for coffee and a vigorous and enjoyable political discussion which kept our mind off the weather for a bit.
It had stopped raining by the time that she left so I went out on my slow bike to have a quick check on the state of our rivers on my way to our corner shop..
The Wauchope was lively….
…and the Esk was pretty full…
…though it still had some room to spare.
After lunch, I decided to brave the strong winds which were battering the town courtesy of storm Erik and go for a walk.
Apart from the wind, it was quite a reasonable day by now….
…and although the river had gone down a bit, there was still plenty of water rushing under the Town Bridge, not to mention the odd small tree trunk.
I am always impressed by how well designed the bridge is to stand up to the pressure of water that hits it on days like these. The water on the upstream side of the bridge is a lot higher than on the downstream side.
The strong wind made it feel very cold and inhospitable and as my feet were not at their best, I cut my intended walk short and soon headed home.
A look round the garden showed our first daffodil trying valiantly to flower but wind and rain have bent it double and it is destined to bloom largely unseen.
On the other hand, there are winter aconites beginning to stick their heads above ground so that is very cheering.
The rest of the afternoon was spent putting some music by Boismortier onto the computer and then trying to play it as fast as I could. As this was not very fast, there is room for improvement.
More wind and rain are forecast overnight and tomorrow so the air of general gloom pervading this post may well continue.
The buffeting breeze discouraged any small birds from coming to the feeder in the garden and I didn’t get my flying bird camera out at all so today’s flying bird of the day turns out to be three ducks floating very carefully right at the side of the river.
Tootlepedal's Blog 
Better to be wet than frozen, I suppose.
Looking on the bright side again?
I’m an incurable optimist…
The title of your blog comes from one of my favorite ays. I do hope the rain does not raineth every day.
I second that hope but the forecast is a bit soggy at the moment.
I hope you get a dry day or two. The rivers look like they could use it.
Hard to believe you have daffodils already. I haven’t even seen a snowdrop yet.
Nice shot of the ducks. I hope I see some this weekend.
I am hoping that we will soon have oyster catchers to add to the waterside bird mix.
The brave daffodil gets a hearty round of applause as do your local bridges…thats a lot of water moving under them
It drained away well though and the river was quite calm by today.
The floating birds of the day look quite fitting for your current weather. We had snow here again this morning, but it melted by afternoon.
We are free of snow altogether at the moment and long may that continue. There comes an age where snow is just a nuisance rather than an opportunity.
Loved the two shots of the water rushing under the bridge, so powerful.
Good to see two splashes of colour in your garden. Hope the wind and rain abate soon.
The ducks on that fast moving water picture says it all – so, of course, do all the river shots
We had quite enough water to be going on with.
You did, indeed
The water is really high under the bridge so hope the sun comes out soon and the level drops quickly. The ducks are happy enough though.
It was good weather for them as they say.
My garden has been looking as battered as that daffodil. The water looks like it’s picking up a lot of silt.
It does, doesn’t it.