Let me add my strength to yores

Aktually it is only fotherington-thomas you kno he sa Hullo clouds hullo sky he is a girlie and love the scents and sounds of nature...

It is worth mentiononing in passing the weird weather event which took place last week in Ottery St. Mary, largely because it is about five miles up the road from here. As you may have seen Ottery had about a foot of hail, lightning the like of which no-one has ever seen and the town was flooded again for the third time in a few years. Now I don't know what it is that the people of Ottery have been doing and two floodings I can understand but to be host to a freak weather event like this as well and things start to look suspicious. Of all the places in the UK that this could have happened it had to be right over Ottery.

I was a few miles down the road that night and the wind and rain started at about seven in the evening, increased in ferocity and stayed with us all night. At times it died down and seemed to move away, only to come back around again and have another go.

Normally I would waterproof up and go out for a bit of a shufty but I looked out at it and thought the better of it, it really was that bad, at times sounding as if there was someone standing outside throwing handfuls of gravel at the window. I am a bit keen on the weather and I think that the intensity of storms has increased over the last few years. I find myself looking out and thinking "this doesn't seem right" it's as if there is more energy in the weather system now, but I don't know really, it's just a feeling I get.

Ottery is famous for the tar barrel night of november the fifth which is supposed to ward off unfriendly spirits though one of the first things I saw the last time I went was a very drunk man falling over right in front of me and cracking his head open. The rest of the night seemed to be largely comprised of huge crowds of people holding their mobile phones aloft so as to capture a bit of footage, a sight that I should imagine has become quite popular at many events these days, now that we are all roving reporters of some sort.

Pictures of autumn taken today up at bulverton hill including a very obliging cow goofing around for the camera.