Springing into Summer?

So the British fascination with weather continues and once again I will launch into a blog post with my weatherman hat on. Winter seemed quite long this year, so I was told. With it being my first year here I have no point of reference however I can declare that April was neither the warmest nor the driest April I have experienced. A friend said that forget spring, this year we are going to skip it and jump straight into summer – and so far this prophesy is playing itself out.

I am currently writing this on a quiet Sunday morning in early May, sat in Vero’s parents’ kitchen with the sun beaming down and the mercury already rising outside. Yesterday the thermometer on the car read 28 degrees and I expect it will be somewhere near that again today. We are off to Lac Aiglebelette (if that’s how it is spelt) later for a picnic and I am hoping it will be marvellous.

So effectively, the trees and flowers have gone from nothing 2-3 weeks ago to an explosion of vegetation and colour (mainly green). Bugs are everywhere, bees are very, very busy making up for lost time and suddenly the whole place is alive again, awoken from its prolonged hibernal slumber.

In terms of photo opportunities, we are back in Ruy again (as mentioned) and were here two weeks ago at the end of April. Again blessed with some sunny weather (if not too hot), I was able to capture the contents for the second annual spring photography showcase of the garden (see last years here). I have also sneaked a few in this weekend which are worth including too.

This year, not as much because of the prolonged colder weather – in fact the fruit harvest on some of the fruit trees in the garden will not be as good this year as some the earlier blossoming varieties (cherry and plum trees) were attacked by the frost and the cold. We will see! I quite fancy the idea of coming down one weekend to help pick the fruit and then do all the tings afterwards (make some jam etc).

One other side effect of the warmer weather is Geneva seems to have doubled in population – tourist season is definitely well underway and you cannot walk 5 meters in town without seeing people with cameras or dodging tourist road trains. I cannot imagine what the place will be like when the European Football championships get underway at the beginning of June…it may be fun to see it but to try and commute across town when it’s like this is going to be a veritable nightmare.

As much as I like football and all the regalia that goes with being in a host city, we have decided to get out of dodge for a week during the championships (and not because there’s no England – if there was it would be even worse!!). Now if we were better prepared we could have rented out our flat for about 5000 Euros but it’s too late to ‘cash in’ now. Anyway a UK mini-tour then a few days in Spain is on the cards – flights and car are all booked and full details will follow.. a nice break before the second half of the year and all the fun it is going to bring. Watch this space!!!!