No sooner there than gone again

The sky was a deeply threatening black in one direction as I left to go up to the local post office. When I came out, 'the heavens opened', as the saying goes, and I was pelted with siezeable hailstones as I ran back to the car. I'd half thought of going up to the Swords estuary to blip a few swans, but I'd say they would have run for cover as much as I did, and wouldn't be in any mood for their usual inquisitive posing. So I held the camera up against the side window in the car and took this close-up of the remains of a little clump of hailstones instead.

Update on extra break to recover from the one I've just had: Sicily isn't on, so we're off to Barcelona instead, out on Sunday 30th March, back on Friday 4th April. Flight times are really good: arrive in Barcelona at 10.30 am, leave there at 10.00 pm, which means we'll get the full benefit of both days at the beginning and end of the break. Carl is needed in work for most of April, so we had to bring the timing forward, which means we're going before the direct flights to Trapani begin.