Category: News

Whilst waxing lyrical about the onset of Spring in last week’s Befouled Weakly News (the sun has shone, the temperatures have been very tolerable, the daffodils are ready to burst into bloom, the birdsong is rampant, the insects are beginning to emerge from their winter slumbers and the wood pigeons in the trees outside our bedroom window are “at it” constantly, etc.), I realised that I neglected to include one of the more obvious signs of Spring, at least around these parts: the emergence of huge expanses of pale, white skin cascading out of over-short and over-tight clothing. The spectacle is enhanced for many of the men (and some of the women), with every millimetre of spare flesh covered with tattoos of various descriptions. Fortunately, this week has been somewhat chilly with grey, overcast skies and we’ve largely been spared the sight of Banburians exposing either their over-ample lily-white skin and/or the swathes of intricate tattoos. Continue reading “18 March 2012”

Good morning to you all after what has been a pretty decent week in beautiful, downtown Byfield. Very decent and acceptable weather in the middle of the week; the sun has shone, the temperatures have been very tolerable, the daffodils are ready to burst into bloom, the birdsong is rampant, the insects are beginning to emerge from their winter slumbers and the wood pigeons in the trees outside our bedroom window are “at it” constantly. Clearly Spring is just around the corner. Continue reading “11 March 2012”

Man! What a social life we enjoy! A veritable whirl of exciting and exhilarating experiences which it has been our pleasure to endure over the past couple of weekends. A week ago on Friday Ms Playchute did not feel much like cooking (and, you’ll be surprised to hear, neither did I) so we spoiled ourselves with an Indian take-away. Now, I know that’s not too exciting for those of you who live in a metropolis of any significance but for us in beautiful downtown Byfield, this is a real treat, even if it does mean having to travel down to the next village to collect it. Continue reading “4 March 2012”

Good morning on a beautiful, spring-like morning in beautiful downtown Byfield. What a week of wacky weather we’ve had! Snow on Sunday and then 19 degrees C (nearly 70 F) on Wednesday afternoon. The tail end of the week was gloriously sunny and warm; the daffodils have begun to awaken from their winter slumber and the hyacinth on Penelope’s kitchen windowsill has bolted so fast that it has fallen over in a slump (still smells gorgeous, however). I know it’s too soon to declare the end of winter but we’ll take this while we can. Continue reading “26 February 2012”

Well, it’s been a pretty miserable week in the Stragnell household. I started developing a cold on Tuesday (Valentine’s Day, I know!) which has progressed steadily downhill all week approaching full-blooded “Man Flu” by the end of the week. And, as we know, if I’m miserable I am quite capable of making everyone within a ten mile radius miserable as well! So, I’ve had a miserable week, Penelope has had a miserable week, the dog has had a miserable week and the postman and rubbish collectors were exceedingly fortunate I was otherwise occupied when they visited. Continue reading “19 February 2012”

Good morning to you all on another f***ing freezing morning in beautiful downtown Byfield. I had hoped that last weekend’s snow was going to be gone by Monday morning and, in the early part of the week, it looked like that might be a possibility. If not gone by Monday perhaps Tuesday or Wednesday? The temperatures in the early part of the week played their part – a few degrees above freezing which turned the snow into a delightfully slushy, muddy quagmire. Thursday evening, however, brought another round of plummeting temperatures and another fresh provision of powdery snow. Friday night was, apparently, the coldest this winter at -18 C (0 F in old money) which I know isn’t much to you in the great frozen Northeast but temperatures that cold are somewhat unusual for the UK.

The weather forecasters are predicting at least another week to ten days of Arctic conditions. Children and dogs seem to enjoy the snow and while I enjoy looking out on it for a day or so, any more than that is just not necessary, thank you very much! Thank goodness for my flannel-lined trousers! Continue reading “12 February 2012”

Good morning and what a terrific week we’ve had – bracingly fresh or f***ing freezing, depending on your perspective but, in general, fine, clear, bright blue skies. Toward the end of the week the temperatures dropped from merely f***ing freezing to “OMG it’s f***ing cold!” I hadn’t really appreciated that there were that many negative numbers. Then, on Saturday afternoon the cold front from Siberia ran into the slightly-less cold front rumbling in from the Atlantic to give us our first real snowfall of the winter. As is often the case, we’ve had it less severe than other parts of the country for which I am always grateful. Continue reading “5 February 2012”

Good morning to you all after a fairly decent week in beautiful, downtown Byfield. The early part of the week was unseasonably mild which must be why I spotted the first snowdrops of the season on Friday. That was the day, of course, when we also had our first snow of the year – a tiny smattering which was gone by lunchtime but the temperatures have fallen and we are being promised more typically winter weather in the days to come. Continue reading “29 January 2012”

Good morning to you all and hope it’s a grand morning wherever you are waking up. We’ve had a busy, busy week including the first bicycle ride of the new year. Indeed, it’s the first bike ride I’ve been able to enjoy since last summer sometime when Adam was still here, I think and a glorious ride it was too. Bright, bright clear blue skies with what temperatures I am sure the cycling fraternity would describe as “bracingly fresh.” I would describe it as “cold” bordering on “f***ing cold”. Still, it was an excellent outing which was most enjoyable in spite of the frozen extremities. Continue reading “22 January 2012”

Good morning to you all – we’ve had a very pleasant week. The weather has been mainly cooperative – very mild in the first part of the week and then turning frosty and colder at the end of the week but generally clear and bright. It doesn’t really matter if it’s cold as long as it’s not cold with lashings of rain. Continue reading “15 January 2012”