Archive for the ‘Weather and seasons’ category

Cambridge Fun Run

Friday 16th November, 2007 @ 3.10pm GMT Europe/London by Pandammonium

Normally, when the Hubster leaves for work in the morning, I’m still in bed snuggled up with the cat. She likes that, but this morning, it was different.

This morning, I got up at 7 to make the Hubster his breakfast - a posh bacon butty - because he was to run in the Cambridge Fun Run round the Science Park later, and the website says to make sure you have your breakfast that day. So I made sure he had his breakfast.

The cat noticed I was not in position, and was most disgruntled by this. She decided the way to sort it out would be to run round the house like a loon, going, “maaow” occasionally. After the Hubster had finished eating, I went upstairs to see to the cat. She was at the far side of her double bed in her bedroom, and came straight over to me when I went in the room, and purred a lot. Then, she jumped onto the floor and led me to my bedroom door, where she waited to make sure I was following, then she went round the other side of the bed, which is where she tends to jump up from for some strange furry reason, and I got on the bed and looked down at her and she immediately jumped up and implied she’d like me to get into bed again so she could snuggle up. I complied, and she snuggled. We stayed there for really quite some time.

Later, I noticed that the fun run was due to start soon, so I got ready quickly and cycled up to the Science Park, which smells a bit chemically these days, to watch. I was just behind the start line when they started, so I kind of saw the start. After loitering to see if I could see the Hubster in the throng of people outside Cambridge Consultants, where the start line is (I couldn’t), I went up to Accelrys, where there were a few spectators, some of who I know, lurking for moral support.

Accelrys were putting out two relay teams, one all boys, and one mixed (three girls and one boy). Becky was running in the mixed team, and the Hubster was propping up the rear of the boys’ team. Also in the Hubster’s team (028) were Kevin, James and Paul “Psycho” Sykes. Also in Becky’s team (029) were Toby, Elizabeth and Monica, all shown below, after the race was finished and they’d all got their breath back.

The weather was good for the event - fine, dry and sunny, with no wind or rain or anything. It wasn’t even that cold, as you might expect for the middle of November in England.

Hopefully, all the runners have made lots of money for charidee.

posted in Life(style), Weather and seasons | Tags: breakfast, Cambridge, charity, Colin, Dusty, exercise, friends | 3 Comments »

It’s weathering…

Saturday 23rd June, 2007 @ 9.59am BST Europe/London by Pandammonium

It’s tailing off now, but there’s just been a bit of a storm, with thunder, lightning, loads of rain and even a few hailstones!

My husband’s out in that. Running.

posted in Weather and seasons | Tags: Colin, hailstones, lightning, rain, storm, thunder | No Comments »

Strawberry fair

Sunday 3rd June, 2007 @ 2.04pm BST Europe/London by Pandammonium

“Are you going to Strawberry Fair?” I sang tunelessly to The Hubster yesterday.

“If I must,” he grumped, “but they don’t sell strawberries.”

When we got there, around 11.30 a.m. via a trip to Tesco for Irn Bru for The Hubster and Jamaican Ginger Beer, which appears to come in handy small bottles now, for so fewer pennies than other pop, the first thing we noticed when we got onto the common proper were loads and loads of food stalls. As we meandered, they became more interspersed with clothes stalls selling your usual tie-dye, hippy, grungy-type stuff. There was also jewellery, which was also of the same style, which was perfect because I finally managed to successfully replace my earrings, one of which I lost whilst on honeymoon. I tried to get some from the normal Cambridge Market, but, although I did buy three pairs, none were the right ones. I’ve worn the same style for over ten years now.

We decided upon goat curry to eat for dinner (aka lunch) from one of the Caribbean stalls. Very tasty, it was, although there was far too much food for my tiny tum. (I’m serious - it’s like a reverse TARDIS in there.) We also found a bed-spread stall, which was good because I wanted a new one for the bed-sofa in the living room. We got a black one with some sort of crazy psychedelic mushroom and snakes (but no badgers) and another one which is tie-dyed blue and has elephants on it. Maybe snakes as well.

We went to the beer tent, which had some interesting-looking bitters, but it was far too hot for bitter, so we had lager instead. (Lager-drinkers!) The other end of the beer tent was being called the acoustic tent, where we listened to the tail end of of a song at the tail end of an act. We wandered off when they’d finished to sit on the grass near what appeared to be the main stage to drink our beer.

A bit more wandering brought us to the lost kids tent; we weren’t sure if the lost kids went in the tent or in the nearby cage with a boingy floor, which some may have called mini trampolines.

I saw a sign on the grass advertising strawberries and cream, which I couldn’t resist pointing out to The Hubsicle:

“See,” I said pointing to the strawberries and cream sign,” you can get strawberries.”

“Hmph,” he said, and I didn’t dare ask if we could get some!

Around 2.30, The Hubster’s whinging became unbearable, so we headed home, via the Old Spring, for refreshments because it was really very hot, and some of us were getting sunburnt. As ever.

posted in Food and Drink, Life(style), Weather and seasons | Tags: Colin, events, shopping, sunburn | 2 Comments »

Rain

Tuesday 31st October, 2006 @ 2.08pm GMT Europe/London by Pandammonium

There was rain forecast for today. There were clear blue skies and sunshine this morning. The rain is happening now. Most murky-dismal, so it is. I’m glad I went out this morning, instead of putting it off till this afternoon!

posted in Weather and seasons | Tags: rain, sun | No Comments »

Summer

Tuesday 15th August, 2006 @ 1.46pm BST Europe/London by Pandammonium

The summer’s over, by the way. It ended a couple of weeks ago. We’ve had nowt but rain and clouds now, with the sun trying to peek out now and again, like it is doing now.

posted in Weather and seasons | Tags: clouds, rain, summer, sun | No Comments »

Summer weather

Thursday 27th July, 2006 @ 4.04pm BST Europe/London by Pandammonium

A run of a few hot, sunny days turned into what seems like an eternity of hot, sunny days. It’s been too hot for me to go outside - hey, I’m from the north east! I’m not used to such heat as one finds in Cambridge in summer - so I languish in the humid heat of my house, with the windows and back door open, hoping a for a through breeze. The cat doesn’ tknow what to do with herself, and hides from the sun under the buddleia bush. She rolls in the muck and brings that muck right in the house. The grass of the lawn in mainly yellow and straw-like.

Yesterday, it came to a head and we had thunder and a heavy sploosh of rain (which sent the cat not in through the open door she was a couple of feet away from, but under her beloved buddleia bush, and wouldn’t come out even when I went to get her. The heat and humidity didn’t leave us, however.

Today, it’s been sunny and hot again, but this afternoon, there have been intermittent rumbles of thunder in the near distance. Now, the light is dark yellow, the rain has arrived. The rain is getting heavier as I type. The thunder’s further away, but it’s still going. The cat’s inside.

Update, about 5 minutes later: the rain is coming down in billions of big fat drops, heavy and hard. They’re bouncing off the wall when they land.

It’s just what the ground needs.

Update, about 2 minutes later: the road out the front’s flooding and the thunder’s getting nearer!

posted in Weather and seasons | Tags: buddleia, Dusty, flooding, rain, sun, thunder | No Comments »

Summer

Wednesday 7th June, 2006 @ 4.12pm BST Europe/London by Pandammonium

This year, summer will be…this week.

posted in Weather and seasons | Tags: summer | No Comments »