Stormy

It's been quite stormy the last 24 hours - big chunks of rain last night that smashed a quantity of the white cherry blossom down (and round here there is a lot) and strong winds today to take down the rest.  Outside it looks like it's been snowing.  But there has also been sun and huge clouds, very dramatic!

This is a stormy looking Winchester Castle, tended by English Heritage, who as an organisation I swear lives in a castle in the air - or at the very least, a parallel universe.  The entrance to the Castle is down a tiny little fenced-in track that no visitor ever finds.  EH used to have an old chap in a garden shed at the far end taking entrance money, but though the shed is still there, the old man is not.  I got in for free.  No-one is ever there.

Anyway, the castle is not a castle, it is the old bishop's hang-out (Wolvesey Palace), built by Henri de Blois in the 12th century.  Henri was Bishop of Winchester and brother of stormy King Stephen.  The castle's Great Hall was just this side of the 2 arches you see and was where Bloody Mary and Philip of Spain had their post-wedding bash.  Philip himself may not have lived amongst storm clouds, but his Armada was certainly wrecked by them.

So that's enough of stormy English history.  I enjoyed my morning ramble and even more I enjoyed going out for a coffee and a natter at lunchtime.  This afternoon I didn't do anything very constructive and this evening I'm off to choir.  What a peaceful (non-stormy) and indulgent day.

Have a good evening, dear folks  xx