Willow arch

2004 for was a significant year for me. It marked the end of my time as an IT contractor and the start of running my own business. My last contract was for a project that was based in New York and I was required to fly out there periodically for a week at a time - which was, as you can imagine, fantastic - and the rest of the time I mostly worked from home. 

I say mostly because occasionally I would go down to Bournemouth for a few days to meet up with some other members of the team in the offices there. The company would put me and my colleagues who'd come over from the States up in the Highcliff Marriott, just above the beach.

I particularly remember arriving there one sunny Sunday afternoon. I met up with one of my colleagues and after a drink in the bar we decided to walk into the town to get something to eat. Our route took us through Bournemouth Gardens and I was struck by the number of people out picnicking. 

It wasn't just the number of people that struck me - after all, we do get plenty of visitors to the Lakes - it was the fact they were in their summer clothes, which was a concept that didn't really exist in Cumbria. Looking around, I could see a huge variety of plants, too, ones that I couldn't imagine growing in the north. 

However, the last ten weeks have given us a run of sunshine that is unprecedented, at least in the thirty years that I've lived up here. The Minx's ambitious planting in the garden has blossomed and that's most evident to me in the willow arch, which she installed at the start of May. After only a month, look at all the leaves sprouting out!

As a post script and on the subject of the sunny weather, my Extra shows just how low the Lune is running jow. With that chap on the shore handily positioned for scale, you can see how you could pretty much leap across at the narrowest point. I did get an email from United Utilities a few days ago telling me that we should all be careful about how much water we use but apart from that, I've not seen any comment on the lack of rainfall.

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-9.7 kgs
Reading: 'Underland' by Robert Macfarlane