Dusk at 9 AM!

As the sky resembled dusk at 9am, the sight of my beautiful daffodils quivering in the bitter wind managed to bring some vibrant colour to the grey world which greeted me as I stepped out this morning.

I know we have no right to moan, tucked in our little suburban bubble whilst vast areas of the country are struggling with enormous snow drifts and surviving yet another day without power, but this weather is really getting everyone down.

Last year around this time were we enjoying a lunch on the beach to celebrate The Chief's birthday and finally had to find a bit of shade to shelter from the 28 degree sunshine.  The garden was powder dry, we'd already had endless bbqs and the hose ban was about to come into force. Now, day after day, the greyness just becomes greyer, the bitter wind is bone chilling and there is a general feeling of inertia due to lack of sunlight in our monochrome world.  

The brilliant pink camellia bush should have been in full bloom for at least a month by now.  Not one bud has managed to brave the wind.  I can only be grateful for the bravery of our sturdy daffodils which add the only brightness to the day. However, if the spring buds do finally manage to flower, they won't be in bloom for long as the sun will be too sharp for their tender petals and they will be withered in a flash

The British have a reputation of being a resilient, adaptable nation partly due to our unpredictable climate, but I think these prolonged conditions have pushed us to the limit this year . We deserve a jolly good summer to erase the chill of this winter.