The First Day of Spring 2015

It's Sunday, the 1st of March, St David's Day, and, meteorologically, the First Day of Spring!

Well, first thing this morning... that is 8am... (come on... it is Sunday, after all!)... it was lovely and sunny; a clear, breezy, mild morning, here in Great Linford.  The writer seriously thought about having his breakfast in the Summerhouse, but after spending 10 minutes in the garden, clearing out pussycat's dirt box, feeding the birds, and just generally praising God for a beautiful morning, he felt the keenness of that breeze; which, even as he stood there, was developing into a strong, chilly, wind!

By the time the missus and I were ship-shape and ready to go to church, this beautiful, sunny, morning had turned into a dull grey sky, with even greyer clouds scudding along, dark and ominous, and depositing a touch of drizzle as we motored to church.  "April showers." said she, as the windscreen suddenly got spattered as if someone had turned on a hose.  "You always say that." I replied, "How can it be 'April showers' in March?"

Stupid boy, you just opened the door to your wife's wealth of memories of growing up on the farm, down in Kent, and all the country folklore she learned at her mother's knee, out in the fields. "The weather doesn't know it's still only March." she replied, sage-like.  "Of course April showers can start in March ... and finish in May... You know, they're the showers that suddenly descend from an otherwise bright, sunny, sky.  Quick, blustery, downpours, or gentle sprinklings from a fluffy white cloud.  And that's what we've got this morning, April showers!  Look: over towards the West, there's still enough blue to make a sailor a pair of trousers." she said, remembering the age-old weather idiom about patches of blue sky shining through developing rain clouds. Blue being the colour of sailor's trousers long ago; and having sufficient 'blue' to patch, let alone make, a sailor's trousers, gave a really positive outlook on the weather one was experiencing!  The more 'blue' the better it must be getting, that is, the showers lessening, and soon the sun would be out again!

However, showers apart, other signs that "Spring has sprung!" can be seen along the centre verges of the dual carriageways here in MK - they're festooned with gorgeous yellow Crocus; and Daffodils are evident, too, by their long green leaves, now several inches tall above the grass.  From the look of them, it seems it won't be long before we see their flaring, golden 'trumpets', truly announcing the best, and finest, season of them all - Springtime!

In our garden we've Bluebells and Crocus pushing through the dark winter earth of the borders, and dozens of the miniature Daffodils beginning to show under the Bay Tree, and a bunch of Sweet Violets are already in bloom under the Hawthorn tree.  On the grass border along the roadside, are slender mauve Crocus, always only a few, spread across a square yard of grass, but there every Spring to cheer me as I walk to the car.  Swelling buds on the Hazel and Crab Apple trees; the Cherry and the Silver Birch, along the border by our car parking places, and all these flowering plants pushing their way into the sunny mornings, how can I not agree with my lovely wife when she rightly says, "April showers [which can occur even in March!] bring forth Spring flowers!"  Happy 1st Day of Spring, dear readers!