spring?

I promise that this post will not be about the English's favourite past-time: complaining about the weather.

But, despite daffodils being in bloom, Mother Nature is taking her sweet ole time with spring this year. Seriously -- same time, last year -- people, in summerwear, were playing frisbees and picnicking in our nearby greenspace. This year -- for heaven's sake -- Sheffield saw snow last week. Yes, snow! in! April! At first, I, being stupidly ignorant, thought someone painstakingly sprayed white paint all over the train tracks but when the 'white spray paint' carried over into the City Centre and up the hill to the campus, I knew it was the real deal.

I've been hoping for spring for a while now. I retired all my winter coats from the front hall closet and have been wearing a spring jacket since mid-March. I just wanted to encourage Spring by giving it an oh-so-gentle nudge but, instead, I think putting my wool and down coats into seasonal hibernation caused me to tempt weather fate, if there is such a thing. The weather this weekend is finally heading in the right direction: sunny, but not too; warm and humid, with temperatures in the mid-teens; a couple of sporadic showers thrown into the mix.

This weekend started off right with tons of home made sushi and eaten with chopsticks lovingly brought back from Japan. They are prettily decorated with ladies in kimonos but the topless geisha girl chopsticks -- I'm sure unbeknownst to my Aunt -- goes to my husband every time. We rolled enough sushi to last three meals.

We spent some time devoted to our gravel backyard: weeding and replacing the plants in our containers. We also took the train down to Leicester, with a visit to the market (!) planned and, as an added bonus, a visit to Primark. It's absolute mayhem inside Primark. I think the main reason for that is that everything is crazy cheap, and it's cheap by Canadian standards. The store is crowded and cluttered, and shopping there likens to shopping on Boxing Day. Did I mention that everything's cheap? I'm definitely looking forward to when the one in Derby opens and that's where you'll probably find me on work-from-home days.

Although we had decent weather this weekend, one thing for sure is that my strappy sandals and flip flops stay in storage for a bit longer. It's a good thing that they are, cause I just heard the roar of thunder...