Contrasts

When we left Pisa yesterday it was pouring rain from a biblical sky of boiling Saharan dust. It was close and oppressive. Two hours and 20 minutes later fired northward by the jet stream and after what seemed an endless descent through low cloud we stumbled out into cold, wet, North Easterly blowing Edinburgh. We felt for the young woman who’d been sat next to us who was about to pick up an expensive rental camper van with her boyfriend to drive the North Coast 500 in a week.

In the past I’ve often been surprised how far advanced spring is on coming over from Italy. And even now the horse chestnut on our road are more advanced than yesterday despite another day of cold gloomy dreich. Still, with the unseasonably hot weather in Italy, it was a shock.

However, once out in it and suitably attired it never seems as bad as when appraised from behind double glazing.

It’s probably not possible to say the same for the state of our Earth’s climate.