Seven Minutes from the Rain

I've spent the last 24 hours in Southend-on-Sea visiting a very good friend of mine. Today we'd planned a long walk with the brown dog, but the weather meant that only five minutes after leaving the house we were soaked through and we cheerily admitted defeat.

A little later we snatched a few (seven, to be precise) minutes of sunshine to have a look around the ruins of Hadleigh Castle. This little corner above the Essex marshes provides a weird juxtaposition of romantic 13th century ruins backed by a grey, industrial North Kent horizon.

To the east, a black cloud and a blanket of rain gradually enveloped more and more of the scenery as it headed towards us. There was just enough time to skip over the puddles and back to the car before the heavens opened.

A pleasant few hours in the pub watching a thunderstorm tossing the boats around in the water went by far too quickly . . .