That depression which plagued us last week was rather tedious. Yes I know we needed water to replenish the reservoirs, I know the gardens really liked it, but I didn’t. The weather event we experienced is called a Gota Fria. Before learning Spanish I used to think that meant ‘let’s get an ice cream’. Not exactly right, but close. It means cold drop. Quick weather lesson: A depression is an area of low pressure in the atmosphere. This one was technically known as ‘a slow moving upper-level isolated depression’ known as a DANA in Spain. As the cold front approaches, the warmer air rises and cools as the temperature drops with altitude. When it cools, water vapour from the air condenses to form clouds and usually precipitation. Or rain as I like to call it, so you can pretty much expect wet weather from low pressure.
I can imagine how the wet weather made for some very unhappy half termers. You book a holiday some time in advance and don’t have much control over what happens when you get there. I really felt for everyone from the UK, especially those with young kids. Difficult to use up all that pent up energy when you can’t even go outside. I know two people who actually cancelled their holiday flights because of the forecast. Can’t blame them really if that week was their hard earned break in the sun. Apart from happy gardens and happy gardeners, rainy weather tends to be a bit of a wet blanket where outdoor events of any kind are concerned. Rain stops most sports, with a few exceptions such as rugby which always looks muddy even in dry weather.
Luckily no rain in Yokohama on Saturday and didn’t England do well! Rain certainly takes the fun out of sports like tennis. In fact pretty much all outdoor activities are severely curtailed unless you’re into storm watching. And we all did a bit of that last week. Amazed at the sheer quantity of thunder, lightning and rain. Storm watching was compulsory, very difficult to avoid, even indoors the lightening was flashing outside every window. And the water. You were lucky if the rain didn’t find its way into the house to join you. Our electrician told me he recorded 160 litres per square metre over those three days, luckily that was outdoors. His and everyone else’s pool were a murky green, with a big dose of fine red Sahara dust mixed into the water. Apparently the solution is to wait until it settles at the bottom and then ‘Hoover’ it clean. I must say I’m really looking forward to that little task.
Alfa Spyder, so pretty in red.
Fortunately the weather finally moved on. Needless to say before it did, it had rather a detrimental effect on our weekly Wednesday car show at The Boat House. Shiny cars and muddy rain don’t mix too well, so we don’t have anything to report from last week’s event. Rather a shame because that was the last one of the year before the clocks changed. In the dusk from tomorrow onwards. However here is a selection of shots from previous weeks to keep you going. Next week, Sunday’s Classic Car Club rally report. See you then!
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