Here at Sheinton Street we are wondering if spring has come. Certainly it looks like spring. We have had daffodils, crocus and cherry blossom, and now the crab apple tree is blooming. But this is not spring as we know it. For one thing the winds have been icy, and unrelenting day after day. For another we completely missed out on April showers, and when they finally came on Saturday night, they came all at once and pounded away what blossom was left on the damson tree. I’ll be surprised if the Shropshire Prune has any fruit this year. Out in the very wet garden on Sunday morning the tulips looked positively shivery. Dishevelled too.
Definitely brrrr all round. There’s an old English saying that advises, ‘Ne’er cast a clout till May is out,’ and I can tell you there will be no clout casting in this house – probably not till July. Time to stoke up the wood burning stove, and see how the baked spuds are cooking.
Happy May, Everyone, Whatever Your Season
Tish Farrell 
The weather is most definitely topsy turvy this year. And it’s not just in Britain. In Istanbul, it was cold with storms and even heavy hail. Roll on June!
This is weird, Debbie. Everyone everywhere seems to be having odd weather.
Feels like you’re writing just for me :-). What does it mean to ‘cast the clout’?
Hi footsy. It means don’t take your vest off or thereabouts. I’m certainly hanging on to mine 🙂
😦 Friend who is currently cycling Route 66 says it raining buckets in the Mojave Dessert. Making me nervous…. Thanks for the info. I shall commit the phrase to memory.
Not ‘dessert’ – desert 🙂
Oh and I meant to say, clouts are actually clothes on old English.
It certainly hasn’t felt like spring today Tish, cold, wet and misty for my dog walk. Will it ever warm up? I hope that one day we’ll wake up and it will be 20 degrees and stay that way until October 🙂
Ooh, that would be lovely. Not sure if my polytunnel would cope with that, that is to say, I’m not sure I would cope in my polytunnel – so far it’s the one really warm place.
I feel your pain. Spring arrive here this morning. I hope it hasn’t left before the weekend!
We need to nail it down 🙂
Our weather is crazy too. Wehad the coldest April in decades.It felt like winter. May has been kind up till ttoday when it is cold and wet again. Your photos of the raindrops on the flowers are lovely. Keep warm and keep hoping for spring. It can’t be far away.
Well, there’s still not much sign of spring warmth today either. Lots more pouring cold rain. And my Kenya friend says there’s a deluge there too. Anyway, I’m grateful for your warm thoughts, Suzanne 🙂
We had a gale today and now it’s pouring. I just watched the nightly News where there was a report on scientists in the artic. They have proved the is getting thinner. I wonder if this is a factor in all this rain?
Well it certainly feels like defrosting Arctic. And how odd that on opposite sides of the globe, your weather and our weather should be the same. It’s very alarming, though, if the Arctic ice is demonstrably thinner. Not good news for polar bears for one.
The report said the thinning was demonstable over decades rather than years but, yes it is definitely thinning. Many animals are under threat that’s forsure. If only the powers that be would wake up
Ohhh. I need your camera and skill for Warsaw spring. There’s something irresistible about droplets on flowers and these express beautifully the point of your post. We’re beginning to get blossom-carpets here too, without any particular weather event. And I love the clout saying. In Poland, behaviour seems to be regulated by saints days: children shouldn’t lie on the ground till St Somebody’s day – mid-June I think.
Meg, you really don’t need my camera. One cost £17 from Ebay, and the other is a bog standard digital. It’s simply a matter of giving the lens time to focus with the half-press. But thank you for your appreciative comments. And I’m hoping you will be having a splendid Warsaw spring. 🙂
Happy May, Tish. It is raining here so hard you might think there is another ark to be built.
What, still raining! Surely your monsoons have slipped 🙂
Yes, wet everywhere.
Sound advice. When was the winter clout put on? In October? My grandfather here in NZ always said that when they were young they didn’t change their clothes all winter. Not sure exactly what he meant by that but it seems that once winter clothing was on, it stayed on till winter was well and truly over.
Indeed, I think people were even sewn into their winter clothing going even farther back. No fear of draughty gaps then. Better not look at the hygiene aspect, however. 🙂
Not to mention the odours!
Never mind Spring. Remember what Churchill said about summer in England! 🙂
Meantime it is getting so cold out here I almost put on long trousers over the weekend.
Well you’d certainly need them here, trousers that is, and another pair underneath. I am now thinking, like the ancient forebears, that I really would like to be sewn into my clothes.
There are so many thoughts on the craziness of this years weather. It is the same everywhere and you were able to write it in words that just flowed. Amazing photo.
Thank you very much.
I could send some warmth from here, but it might cool down over the ocean 🙂
I think it might indeed, Tiny. But thanks for the thought. Today we have more wind and rain and much shivery-ness. A geographer chum says he blames the crazy weather on atmospheric tests the US did in the 50s and 60s when they had absolutely no idea what they were doing.
Hello and thank you for the like and the follow. I will take any rain we get here in NY as we had snow not that long ago and very very cold winter. The photos are wonderful… Michelle
Happy May to you too, and thank you for finding time for commenting on the guest challenge on my blog.