It's spring in the UK!!

Spring is here! I have attached a picture of the daffodiles that line the street in front of the school. The line runs nearly a mile down the main street of Hardwick. It is lovely!

Amazingly, people are actually complaining about the fact that the UK has had the warmest winter since they started keeping records in 1635. Amazing! In all truth, it has not been THAT warm here this winter. Unlike the January in Maryland, we have had a pretty steady stream for 40 degree F days until March hit. We had some lower temperatures, but it rarely was below freezing during the day. In March, we have had 50 degree days until this week when Mother Nature did her usual move for March and it snowed. The daffodiles have been up since the beginning of March and the crocuses too. The flowering trees are starting to lose their petals now and the leaves are starting to fill in. The rape seed fields surrounding us are making my nose run like a hosepipe. However, I am not complaining! I welcome a warmer winter.

The part of the winter that the complainers did not mention was the fact that here we have had higher than normal rainfall. Now for the UK, that is something to talk about! There is not a week that goes by where it is dry for more than three days in a row. The football pitch (soccer field) at the top of our street has spent most of the winter under an inch of water. The only thing that keeps the water from standing too long is the constant wind gusts that have done their best to dry things out. It seems there has been a battle this winter between the wind and the rain to see which element can cause the most havoc. I think they are tied!