Saturday 29 December 2012

Signs of Spring in Devizes.


I eventually got out of my front door at 2.15pm this afternoon, after hours and hours of torrential rain had kept me shut up in the warmth of Chantry Court.   Words cannot describe just how awful it is, it rains all day,  day in day out!  Today I imagined what southern Ireland must look like, where in some places it rains for 364 days of the year, and the country is so green that it is named, "The Emerald Isle."   The grass here is becoming very green, and this afternoon I also noticed these green catkins hanging from a willow tree.   Should these be emerging at this time of the year?  I think they are too early, but then it is very mild here at 9c. 


The towpath was as muddy as usual, which meant that I had to take extra care when walking under the bridges and stepping too near the canal edge.   The sun eventually emerged for 20 minutes or so, and then promptly disappeared again, hopefully to reappear tomorrow, if the cloud clears and it stops raining.  I walked about 2.5 miles today, and hopefully tomorrow I can do my "Caen Hill Circular," a walk of about 4.5 miles.


I walked home past the "Crammer," the pond on "The Green," an open space in the middle of Devizes, which is used for the circus when it comes to town, and also for festive funfairs and social gatherings.    The sun was setting at this point, and the swans were too busy preening themselves to notice me as I walked by.  The two ducks seem to be heading off somewhere to the left of the photo, maybe they think it is spring, and are into ducking production!

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