The Lemon Fool

No complaints from Bitter Lemons for nearly two weeks. It must be the effect of Spring.

Spring? There's a friggin' cold wind, more like early March.

--kiloran

Spring? There's a friggin' cold wind, more like early March.

That's the Spirit - I was fearful that all the Bitter Lemons had passed away, or started taking happy pills.

Spring has been cancelled, winter asserted it's right to continue for at least twelve months, at least that's what it feels like. Lazy wind, straight through instead of going around. Fed up to the back teeth.

R6

Bright warm spring sunshine and a gentle breeze. With a bit of luck I'll get out there soon.

scotia wrote:No complaints from Bitter Lemons for nearly two weeks. It must be the effect of Spring.

I thought the normal protocol response to an absence of any postings was to enquire about Jimmy Jetwash

TUK020 wrote:I thought the normal protocol response to an absence of any postings was to enquire about Jimmy Jetwash

I know how Jimmy Jetwash is. The bugger's been pissing over half the country for the last couple of months, and the ground's soaked and the rivers are swollen. You can turn it off now, Jimmy.

BJ

And each and every morning it seems there are weather forecasters dancing around promising jam tomorrow and ignoring the rubbish they forecast yesterday. Idiots the lot of them. If I'd done my job the way they do theirs I'd not have lasted 5 minutes.

Definitely a Flanders and Swann year so far.

January brings the snow Makes your feet and fingers glow.
February's ice and sleet Freeze the toes right off your feet.
Welcome March with wint'ry wind Would thou wert not so unkind.
April brings the sweet Spring showers On and on for hours and hours.
Farmers fear unkindly May Frost by night and hail by day.
June just rains and never stops Thirty days and spoils the crops.
In July the sun is hot. Is it shining? No, it's not.
August, cold and dank and wet, Brings more rain than any yet.
Bleak September's mist and mud Is enough to chill the blood.
Then October adds a gale Wind and slush and rain and hail.
Dark November brings the fog Should not do it to a dog.
Freezing wet December; then Bloody January again!
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When spring has sprung
And the grass is ris
I wonder where all the birdies is
The bird is on the wing
But surely that's absurd
The wing is on the bird

I have definitely found a reason to remain a Bitter Lemon.
On Wednesday I ventured out on the loch with a cold and increasingly strong west wind. At times the waves had white tops, and I had to strain heavily on the oars to make any progress. All the fish appeared to have sunk to the bottom, and were ignoring my delicately constructed flies. Even the visiting Ospreys had no luck as they circled the loch on high. I finally managed to connect with one trout, but a squall sprung up, and as I tried to stay afloat, the fish got off. I continued this fruitless endeavour for about 5 hours before admitting defeat, and am now suffering significantly - in my arms, my shoulders and my back. So what's the point in complaining here - well no one else (especially my wife) is offering any sympathy.

scotia wrote:So what's the point in complaining here - well no one else (especially my wife) is offering any sympathy.

Ospreys? Blissful solitude on a boat? And a lonely loch at a beautiful time of year? You're not getting very much more than pure envy from me either.

BJ

Ospreys? Blissful solitude on a boat? And a lonely loch at a beautiful time of year? You're not getting very much more than pure envy from me either.

I'll add to that envy. It was a beautiful evening on the loch (Sunday), and both the Osprey and myself were successful on the trout-catching front. The Osprey had a fair tussle on the surface before taking off with its substantial prey, followed by a slow climb rate as it headed off westwards to its nest. I was the only boat out on the loch, although a fellow fisher arrived as I was leaving around 10:30pm. I'm now much less grumpy.

Out paddling in the Canadian canoe on the canal yesterday afternoon. Where it turns into a lake, there was a swan nesting in the reeds at the far side. A heron in the trees, with its wings spread (I suspect shading chicks from the sun), and encountered ducklings and goslings on the water. Beautiful afternoon.

It`s now summer officially ! The drag racers in their performance cars were hot-rodding on the local dual carriageway from 23.00 to 02.00.

It`s now summer officially !

In the south maybe. I was up on Rannoch Moor yesterday, and there was snow on all of the surrounding mountains. And the trout were not particularly obliging.

bungeejumper wrote:

TUK020 wrote:I thought the normal protocol response to an absence of any postings was to enquire about Jimmy Jetwash

I know how Jimmy Jetwash is. The bugger's been pissing over half the country for the last couple of months, and the ground's soaked and the rivers are swollen. You can turn it off now, Jimmy.

BJ

Posted May 3rd - just about when the weather turned abruptly to hot&sunny for three months. You evidently have the ear of the weather gods!