And Then An Early Warning….

For the past couple of autumn times, what, late September and October, I've directed your observations to the berry barometer and how old country law suggests that bountiful bundles of berries is oft considered to be the portent of a savage winter to come. Nature providing a bounty for all the little fury and feathery fellows to see them through harsh times to come. Thus we have, the bigger the bounty, the harsher the winter. Some say it's always been thus, yes?

Thus This is late July, or, as we are wont to call it in the UK, high summer, and below is wot I saw. See? I'm sorry, it's not easy to see what I saw in the photo but it was taken with a phone, from the car while moving at speed – very close to thirty!! All the same, she done good to climb out the window, hang on to the roof, get the shot and throw the phone back in the car. Sadly, she didn't make it back in herself. Happily, I'll be passing by that way again tomorrow so I'll pick her up then.

You see wots in the picture? Bunches o' berries. In high summer? You're kidding, right? If this berry barometer works, and for the last two years, with 'Don't Work' being at one end of a slidy scale and 'Do Work' at the other, then the slidy pointy thingy in-between has been much closer to the 'Do Work' end, we could be in for a doozey this year!

I must add a disclaimer to the above. I do not mean to alarm the faint hearted {Faint/feint –damn those homophones!} and timid with this post. I'll leave that to the wobbly gloaming folk.

Thus, please note that this silly old blugger is not, in any shape or form, forecasting a savage winter, I'll leave any forecasting to people with equipment a tad more sophisticated than the berry barometer, a bit of seaweed and little house with a man with umbrella and lady with sun hat that's available to me.

Quote; Artemus Ward.

"Why is this thus? What's the reason for this thusness?"