Monday, 16 February 2026

Now that was a bad idea . . .

 Unsurprisingly, it rained all morning.  Around lunchtime it cleared up and there was an encouraging 10 minutes of sunshine.  I had been planning to walk down to our little church, to see the Snowdrops there, so I set off around 12.30.  I didn't push myself as I am still SO unfit from being laid up December/January.  It was VERY wet when I got to the trackway beside the pond.


I had to climb up onto the grassy bank and even that was pretty soggy underfoot.




There was a long stretch of this moss-covered hedgerow.  It was so pretty.


I had nearly reached the church - I was crossing the field to it in fact - when the first spots of rain began to fall.  I got to the church and sat inside the porch and looked dismally at the rain . . .  How typical, I was as far as I could be from home, and it starts to pour.




The replica of the Neuadd Siarman Cross which was first recorded in 1809, built into the wall of a cottage known as Neuadd Siarman (Jarman's Hall).  It was mentioned later in 1929 when the farmer had removed it and put it in a crate with the intention of selling it.  Fortunately it was scheduled as an Ancient Monument and transferred to Brecknock Museum.  It has been dated to the 9th - 10th C and is one of the finest in Wales.  

The beautiful memorial stained glass window, in memory of Winifred Margaret Woosnam, who died aged just 13 in 1897 I think it was.




Beautiful snowdrops but I didn't linger to enjoy them as the rain was even rainier - pretty heavy in fact and I made haste across the field and tracks, but by the time I had reached the lane, the rain turned to hailstones and was lashing across the valley.  My jeans were wet, my socks were wet, my jacket was soon saturated and I could feel wet shoulders and elbows.  I cursed the weather.


Fortunately, just around this corner a passing farmer stopped and asked if I would like a lift?  Well, I accepted with great alacrity but when I sat down, my saturated coat then transferred itself to my jeans and underwear. Yuk!!  When I got indoors I got out of my sopping wet clothes, put all bar the jacket into the washing machine and hung the dripping jacket over a radiator.  Then I had a soak in a hot bath to get rid of the chill.  How typical though, the longest walk I've done for ages and the weather had it in for me!

Anyway, I had a pleasant evening watching Small Prophets, Mackenzie Crook's new series.  I got through 3 1/2 episodes and will finish it tonight.  I carried on with E. Bunny's Bonnet, but will need to do some modifications with a darning needle and the wool where I managed to muck up the increased by 10 stitches bits over the earholes, even though I did it exactly as the You Tube video showed.  Hopefully I will never need to do that again.

It is, of course, raining again, but I have a yen to visit Brecon Museum and see the real Neuadd Siarman Cross in the flesh, so to speak, along with its friends.  Life is too short to sit in the house all day long.


P.S.  Note to self - life is too short to keep watching gratuitous cat pictures on Instagram, but hey, I love them anyway :)

10 comments:

  1. Oh gosh, what bad timing for you. Thank goodness for a bit of a lift home, I bet that hot bath was wonderful.
    Note to self: I must stop watching the shelf stacker/tidier from Aldi on Facebooks reels ... it's addictive.

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    1. I've just seen the weather forecast for Wednesday and we could well have SNOW! I do hope NOT.

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  2. I got soaked today going to the PO with a parcel of books for a blog friend. I did at least manage to get all the windows opened and air blown through the house before the heavens opened. We have Iris for tea and staying overnight, then on Wednesday going into Derby to buy her birthday present. She will have reached double figures this time round. Time flies! Xx

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    1. Opening windows is something that doesn't happen here until spring or we would be liberally jet-washed internally! Have a lovely time with Iris staying over. She will be so excited with the birthday present shopping.,

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  3. I hope MacKenzie Crook's new series comes to the states. I loved, and even bought on DVD, The Detectorists.

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  4. Ambushed by the weather gods!!
    They do like to have fun with us

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  5. i adore old churchyards but none of ours here would be as old as those in your country. one of those graves says the young girl passed away at 13 years old, very sad. Isn't it typical when you try to get outside for fresh air over late Winter it rains....murphy's law.

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  6. So lovely to have snowdrops in February. But caught is a railn and hail storm, how awful. Kind neighbor to give you a lift. Do you use a local weather app on your phone? Mine here tells forecast by the hour, pls incoming precipitation--I find it very accurate, tho I was caught by surprise by the snow we got overnight.

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  7. Sometimes it feels like the weather misbehaves out of sheer spite! I think we have all seen enough rain since the beginning of the year to last a lifetime.

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  8. I hope you will be able to watch it. Certainly different!

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