Not cricket

I thought I should blip the English obsession with stripy sports grounds while the rain is making them look so good. This is one of the university cricket pitches, though currently too sodden to play on.

In the background lie the mountains that divide Oxfordshire, the county where I live, from Berkshire, the county further south-east towards London. They were looking particularly striking this afternoon when a bright sun came out just after, I kid you not, a hailstorm with thunder.

I haven't seen a blip of these mountains before, possibly because they are neither as high nor as spectacular as those further north in the UK. I have to admit that Scotland, Wales and the Lake District outdo the south in the mountain stakes but I think people too often fail to see ours. Officially known as the South Chilterns (or sometimes the False Chilterns as they are a bit smaller than the main Chiltern range to the north), the local name for them is the Cloudbanks, since they are a weather barrier between Oxford and further east and often have cloud just below the top on the Oxford side. I thought I saw a trace of snow on one this afternoon but although it's been cold enough for hail I don't think any snow has fallen so it was probably a wisp of cloud.

The rain has made them a bit unclear but the slight hump to left of the nearer range is Shotover from the Old English 'scoet ofer', meaning 'steep slope'. In his 'Dark Materials' trilogy, local author Philip Pullman cleverly subverted several Oxford place names, and renamed Shotover as 'Chateau Vert'. On the further range behind that is Mighty Fibb. Just out of the picture is Mont Ear, which might amuse blip's francophones. The humpy mountain to the right of the picture is Large Bluff.

It was good to get a view of them today - I think all the rain and cloud has been making us a bit stir crazy. Or maybe a lot.