Sound & light show

It was a strange day yesterday. Throughout the daylight hours there seemed to be a brooding quality to the air. Most of the time the world was grey, yet warm & close, quite sticky in fact.

We did our usual chores i.e. the food shop. We came straight home. We’d bought some frozen food, & even in a cool bag with some freezer packs we feared things would melt fast in the heat. Afterwards we adjourned to the village pub for a well-earned drink & sit down before dinner. As we sat in the almost empty inside – everyone else was sitting outside in the garden – we couldn’t help noticing how dark it seemed to be getting outside. We tried to convince ourselves it was just the small old-fashioned windows that let in so little light, but we weren’t convinced.

We went home for dinner. The day still seemed so dark, the brooding threat so apparent, we decided to eat inside. I got on with the cooking. It got ever darker. I had to put the cooker lights on just to see what I was doing. It may have been only about 5.30pm but it seemed dark enough to be 9pm. The Fox put on the room lights to see me. Then we noticed the first drops of rain. Soon we heard a roll of thunder, followed by flashes of lightning. The skies opened. We were grateful we’d decided to eat inside despite the heat.

As we ate we almost heard the sigh of relief as the parched earth opened up to receive the reviving water, so much more satisfying than the tap water we’ve been showering the pots with every day of late. We did begin to think we heard a vague squeak of enough as the shower turned into a deluge.

From the news on the TV last night I gather Lancaster, just a few miles from us, was once more flooded. Fortunately that did not happen to us. We must have had the edge of the storm. They must have been right under it.

The thunder & lightning drama quickly ceased. The rain eased off for the Fox to make a quick dash next door to the utility room for the ice-cream to accompany our fresh strawberries.  

Today is a lot fresher for all the rain, which continued most of the night.