autumn evenings

I was a bit ahead of myself when I said it was autumn on the 17th, as in fact the equinox didn’t happen till September 22nd. But there was an autumnal edge to the air last week, although it feels even more ‘edgy’ now the rains have started.

This limits my evenings spent writing under the vine but there will still be plenty of days ahead when it’s warm enough for an hour or two outside once I’ve finished in the studio for the day.

These three short pieces were all written under such circumstances, Continue reading “autumn evenings”

water, water everywhere

I’m in Madrid for a few days for meetings etc., and am horrified to be reminded just how much chaos the rain causes in what is, after all, a first world capital city.

I’d already seen the first major rains of the season which I wrote about in Change in the Weather, but it doesn’t get any better.

This morning the newspapers are full of the news: 130 km of traffic jams, the emergency services inundated with calls, and a woman killed after being swept away by the floods in Coslada. Continue reading “water, water everywhere”

hai’ku

After the rain
the tousled heads of corn;
a scarecrow army.

Castilla y León, 21/09/2008
Castilla y León, 21/09/2008

autumn, but the sky’s still blue…

 
 

cloud

alone
in the blue, a small cloud, broad
in the beam as a nursery aeroplane
crumbles
and fades
to leave
a wisp
of
vapour
.

change in the weather

Yesterday the summer ended in Madrid. There were several torrential rain storms – proper “vertical rain” soldiering down – during the afternoon and evening, and then the worst hail storm I’ve seen in years which started around 1:00 a.m.
Continue reading “change in the weather”