Spring Is Sprung...

Two weeks ago, or thereabouts, I started writing a blog post in my lunch hour. I never got much down until I got distracted by something or other and before I knew it I was logging off, destined to finish it later. Here's what I had...

Spring is sprung,

Da grass is riz,

I wonder where dem boidies iz,

Da little boids is on da wing,

Ain't dat absoid,

Da little wings is on da boid.

...A little poem that was bandered about in the springtime when I was a lad. And I am reminded of it today, being the third day in a row where the sky is a lovely gorgeous clear blue sky. There are no clouds. Well, maybe just a couple of small wispy white ones. There's a blustery intermittent wind, keeping the temperatures down, but when it drops you can really feel the heat of the sun, gloriously beating down, gently warming the skin. Conversation among my workmates over lunch yesterday was about the heatwave that we were experiencing here this time last year. Looking back at my blog posts from March 2012 it clearly documents many sunny days of clear blue skies with pictures of people strolling along the promenade in Monte Estoril in T-shirts. But it also documents the fierce winds and storms that wrecked the roof on Faro airport. I suppose by comparison, this springtime has been kind of like an average. We haven't had half the stormy weather that I remember from last year, but by the same token, we haven't had the same number of days of gorgeous sunny weather either. And now the cold wintry weather it seems is drawing, inevitably, towards a conclusion. Three sunny days in a row has to be a good omen, yes?

It's still cold at night though. And more so these last couple of days, what with the clear blue skies during the day, when the sun sets the heat just dissipates and floats off into outer space. I'm utterly determined to not buy any more firewood though. Nope. Not doing it. It would be like throwing money on the fire. So instead, when it gets chilly at night, I just get another blanket to throw over me while I watch the telly. And if it gets really nippy, I'll fill a hot water bottle. There, I've said it. I'm getting old.

At the time that I wrote that, there were only a few school days left until the Easter holidays started and it looked very much like spring was definitely on it's way. And then it rained. The storms started up again. Downpour after downpour; day after day. My family and I would have very much liked to get ourselves down to the beach this Easter, or to the park to kick a football about, but it's proven very tricky indeed to predict the weather. The App that I use on my Kindle may have to be replaced, since it obviously isn't that ACCUrate! Maybe that's a bit drastic though? I mean, I should be familiar with unpredictable weather, right?  After all, I am a stereotypical English person, who, true to form, just can't stop banging on about the weather. And I'm obviously aware that the UK this Easter has once again been blessed with the usual snow flurries! So I shouldn't really moan. The weather here might be a little up and down right now, but at least the signs of spring are starting to show through the clouds.

So Easter holidays are nearly over. (In fact, for my children, they are already, having returned to school yesterday.) The changeable weather did allow us just a couple of dry afternoons to be seized in the great outdoors, and so here are just a few pictures, with clouds included, from a couple of places that my family and I visited.

Parque Dos Poetas (Poets Park)

This park is a fabulous place to go for a stroll and to admire the sculptures. And, much to my childrens delight, it has an excellent play park at the back.

Fábrica da Pólvora (Gunpowder Factory)

We actually planned to look around the museum, have a picnic and then let the kids loose into the the play area, but the museum was closed. Ah well, next time maybe. The kids enjoyed the park though.