Low key

Purrlease - just make it stop.

It's raining again. The farmers don't need it - the land is completely saturated. Householders in flood risk areas certainly don't need it - which includes our village, where the water is already over the road for the second time in a fortnight. And even though I'm not worried about our house, I don't need it either: there were sheets of water across several stretches of the Roman road this afternoon, and if you've never driven through standing water in an MX-5, I can tell you that there are more pleasurable driving experiences to be had.

Also, it was so cold that the car gave me ice warnings in Bidford and in Stratford, which made my heart ache for our garden birds - the youngsters especially will struggle tonight. When I got back from running my errands, although it was still raining and nearly dark, they were out at the feeders taking in calories, so I put as much bird food out as I could to help them along. R is on a personal mission to fatten up some young hedgehogs, that seem to have been born late and are still rather small, and I daresay that he'll also be out a couple of times this evening, spreading hog food around the garden.

In the gloom of the supermarket entrance porch, the bunches of mixed gerberas stood out like a beacon. They're not subtle, but they are cheery, and as such were irresistible. By the time I got them home and in water the daylight was gone, and R offered to break out the studio lights for me, but I lazily shot this under the kitchen downlighters, with a piece of black foam board propped up behind the flower. I could do better - but not tonight: it's wine o'clock, and time for Spiral.