Michele Womble: Blog

Yesterday they turned off the heat.  Central heat means something a little different here than it does in America.  It means that somewhere "they" turn it on and off according to a certain schedule. Off the end of April, early May, and on the end of September.  They only way for you to regulate it yourself is to open a window if you get too hot.  And if you're too cold...(shrug) - go buy an electric heater.

Be that as it may, yesterday they turned off the heat.  Yesterday morning,  there were little buds on the tree outside my window that by evening had already begun to open up.  It looks like the trees might just have some early leaves by May 1.  Yesterday I took a walk in the park, and while many people were still in jackets, some had thrown off their jackets and were dressed for summer.  It's a bit incongruous to see someone in shorts and a short sleeve shirt ambling by a large mound of dirty snow.   Yesterday there were little patches of dark green where new grass was beginning to grow, showing up cheerfully against last year's old yellow grass that was revealed by the melting snow.  Yesterday it was warm.

Today it is chilly again and smells and feels like rain.  People aren't wearing summer clothes without jackets. (Although I suspect that some of these jackets may be concealing summer apparel.)  There are still places where the snow hasn't melted - as there was yesterday.

But today we are packing away our winter coats and hats and gloves and scarves.  We're done with them until - well, until October, at least.

You can see some snow still hanging on in the background.

Lingering snow in the park.