Home again

We arrived back in the United Kingdom last Wednesday evening, and it was fantastic to see the family again.   But it was cold, with the temperature hovering at about 8 degrees.    And it was raining.    Welcome back!

The drive along the M25 on Thursday was typical, with heavy traffic, drizzle and cold temperatures.    I think we would have been disappointed if it had been any different.    Imagine if there had been blue skies, and it had been warm.    I am sure we would have moaned because we were not getting the weather we expected, and if the M25 had been empty of traffic, we would have worried about the lack of traffic. No all was normal, all was well.   Heavy traffic and rain! 

And we arrived home to find our orchid was in full bloom, extremely well looked after by our neighbours, Ken and Carmen.    

And the daffodils were out, quite unexpected, as they should have been long past their best, but due to the extremely cold weather, they had only just started flowering.  What a welcome sight.

The next day we visited Down House with Emma, Steve, Jackson and Isabel.   This is Charles Darwin's house, such a comfortable family home, and now full of information about Charles Darwin and his family.   A very interesting trip.

Due to the heavy rain, we were unable to walk around the beautiful gardens at Down house.   A return visit will be a must during the summer.  

When we returned home last week, the garden was relatively unchanged from when we left three months ago.   There was certainly more light, and there was a hint of green on the small shrubs, but it was almost as if life had stood still during the past three moths.

Except for the rhubarb!   A glorious mass of red stalks and green leaves.  I can see that we will have plenty of rhubarb jam, rhubarb crumble and rhubarb sponge this summer.

And my dearest friends, the moles, have been extremely busy, but luckily on the other side of the fence.  Ken has literally dozens of mole hills, with the accompanying sunken areas in his garden.    He spent some time this past weekend scrapping up all the soil from the mole hills.    Lucky Ken.    I just hope his frenzied activities do not encourage the moles to hop back across the fence and into our garden.  They are not welcome.

And for two days we have had sunshine.    Hurray!    Admittedly not the bright blue skies of Australia and New Zealand, but still blue skies and sunshine.   And today the temperature reached 18 degrees.  

And we are looking forward to more of this blue sky.   Hopefully of course.