Grey

I took the photo in shirtsleeves, seconds later, the gutters were overflowing (OK, should have checked them in the summer - it's on the list). The intense, looming nature of that grey wall was arresting enough through the window to get me outside to see it. The grey of the spent globe-thistle responded to the sky's energy, heightening the moment of tension before the storm broke

A Russian dissident and historian, who was expecting to die in a gulag, has been released in a prisoner-swap. I found this interview with him and his wife more uplifting than anything I have seen about the invasion of Ukraine for some time. He points out that both the Romanov empire and the Soviet regime collapsed in, literally, three days, and says he is certain the same will happen to Putin if his occupation is a failure. There are many reasons why that may not happen, and some post-Putin scenarios that are even worse, but his courage to believe in a better future is humbling and moving - a chink of brightness in a cloud of grey