Tag: Weather

Petrichor

It’s probably the rarest natural scent here in the UK. It’s always raining (pissing), rarely sunny for long enough to make the earth go dry, and very rare to have a period of sunshine immediately followed by a shower. Usually the weather changes are interspersed with days of dull blue-grey clouds and occasional pissing drizzle.

Today I woke up to that lovely, earthy smell. It’s been unseasonably warm and sunny last few days. It hasn’t rained in nearly a week. The spell was broken early morning with a short, sharp shower. The result is a sweet, lingering smell. The smell that reminds me of home. Petrichor.

The weekend weather

First we got a week of glorious, uninterrupted sunshine.

Then, over the weekend, we got two days of crazy strong easterly winds with a mix of sunshine, cloud, and sleet.

Today, and for rest of the week, we’re back to the normal British spring time weather of grey gloomy clouds.

The changeover reminded me of old TV sets. When we switched channels, there was a brief period of electronic noise before the new channel started playing. The weekend’s crazy weather was like that electronic noise while switching the weather channels.

Status.

Text to R this morning:

I don’t want to go run in this freezing cold.
I just want too snuggle up with the warm bachcha, hot chocolate, hot samosas and watch Gilmore girls.

After a good interval running session in freezing cold:

I’m the next Kipchoge. I’m the new Mary Kitane. I can beat Shelly Ann Fraser Price. David Rudisha is me. Mo Farah wants to be me!

Hormones and all that stuff …  :)

Wuss, moi.

I planned the run in my head.

I got dressed in running gear.

I started the warm-up routine.

….

Then I felt too cold.

The head was full of excitement from a breakthrough in the morning’s work.

Chewie was still wrapped up in bed.

But mainly, I felt too cold.

…

So I chickened out of the run. I changed back into home clothes. And am now back at work.

Wuss, moi.

Feeling…

Good

Because…

Spoke to ma-pa yesterday.

Active user count for Todo.txt for Android touched a new high.

It’s freezing cold but sunny.

Weight didn’t increase despite yesterday’s gorging on chocolate and kaju katli. It dropped by 0.2kg.

I’m about to head out for a run.
(It was a wonderful 10K, half with boys who were half brown by the time we finished)

I saw KJT run the 100m hurdles. I think I’m in love with her :)

Continue reading Feeling…

Welcome Autumn

Today is Autumn equinox, the traditional start of Autumn up here. The weather makers seem to be well informed of the dates.

We had beautifully sunny weather all of last week. Then yesterday it rained on most of our run. Now there’s a forecast of rain for this whole week.

It’s getting chilly in the night. I’ll take out one of my duvets this week.

It’s getting darker in the mornings. I can keep the south-facing window in front of my desk open all morning—seeing the slowly shades turn from black to dark blue black, then through various shades black and blue, into bright blue. Or if it’s cloudy, into a dull light blueish grey.

The leaves had already started turning colour. It’ll still be a month or more before the autumnal colours really shine but the shades are already visible occasionally.

The garden has noticed as well. There aren’t as many apples on the tree as before. The petunias are almost gone. Berries are fully ripe, which means they’ll soon start turning black and dry. The begonias are still thriving but the geraniums have reduced flowering. And the grass in the backyard never fully loses the moistness from the morning dew.

One of the good bits about autumn—apart from the beautiful colours and dark mornings—is that it’s my favourite running weather again. I don’t need to care about the warm and hot days. It’s the season of running in cool fresh air, with an occasional shower and often lots of mud. The runs will be harder—summer’s hard ground provides better support than the muddy or boggy autumnal trails. But the runs will also be far more pleasant. Continue reading Welcome Autumn