The rain in Spain

          I was watching the musical “My Fair Lady” while doing the ironing on the weekend, although the rain in Spain stayed mainly on the plane, we weren’t quite so lucky in Lille.

          I can’t complain too much though, I think we only had one real downpour on Friday evening, and on Saturday it was nice enough for us to seek out one of the most popular parks with a bit of a treat for the camera.

          On Friday, the buildings in the square even looked pretty in the drizzle.

          I kept an eye out for some nicely placed puddles to catch the buildings in them but the square was very well paved and the puddles were nowhere to be seen.

          You can see the Old Stock Exchange building in the second picture.  This is the opposite side from the side shown in the post “Lille” with the saxophone player.  The courtyard inside the buildings is just as picturesque, especially when you think of it full of book-sellers and chess players in the summer.

          There was just one pair playing draughts and a good number of the bookstalls were covered up against the weather but one stall had his pictures individually wrapped in polythene for protection against the weather so they were still out on show, the glass like paving mirroring their shapes in the reflection as these two girls took a closer look.

           Like to see more of “Lille” ?

Rain dancing

          It’s been raining heavily all night and we’ve woken up to bright sunshine this morning, as the sunshine hits the other side of the garden fence the rain dances back into the sky …

Hammered

          One of the best things about working nights at this time of year is that when I go for my teabreak at 3.30 am I can look out of the window and see daylight.

          Yesterday I had my camera in my bag, as is usual, and my attention was caught by a spider on the open window of the ladies cloakroom.  I tried a few times to capture the hard work he was putting in but failed terribly, I was struck however, by how much contrast you could see between the sky and the silhouetted buildings and trees below so I decided to go back and have another try last night.

          Unfortunately, not only had someone cleaned the web away (a major miracle in itself) but the clouds were so thick, and the sky so full of the hammering rain that the daylight didn’t stand a chance of getting through at all.

          Today is 21st June, officially the longest day but I should have a few more weeks to watch out for the spider making his web again, and this time I’ll check at the beginning of teabreak not the end so I won’t have to rush off.

Casualties

          Today being Friday, I popped down to Mum-in-Law for the usual “Friday Morning” breakfast.  The wet and windy weather left me undecided as to cold cream cakes or warm toasted teacake, but while my back was turned in the shop a pack of croissants jumped into my shopping basket and made the decision for me.

          I took my orange umbrella with me but gave up trying to use it against the wind and the rain, probably the best decision as this poor pink umbrella found out to its peril.

The garden didn’t escape the ravishes of the weather either, when I got home the bird table lay in the flower bed !

          It’s ok though, for those of you who are wondering, Alice was sheltering behind her hutch but was quite happy to come out and stand in her tube to see why I had the little red box out again.

Wet benches

          The rain is lashing against the window today, the wind is making the house creek and the tree outside is shaking itself like a wet dog trying to shake the water off.

          Wild horses wouldn’t drag me out with my camera today so here’s a few photos of the empty park from Friday … taken from the shelter of the bandstand.

          I shared the park with a couple of people walking their dogs but that was about it, there were plenty of benches to sit and watch the flowers, but no one chose to sit on them.