The House Husband

What a difference! Today was ghastly. I was woken in the night by the gale force winds and lashing rain, crashing against the windows. I even had to close them. Not because I was cold but because the rain was getting in.

And the daytime was no better. The garden is strewn with autumn leaves where yesterday there were none. Walking into town was no pleasure with the wind trying to stop me while the rain soaked me. Damn those tag teaming elements! The Lion & Lamb looked very different this morning.

The Lion & Lamb all wet

Needless to say, I spent the rest of the day in the house, doing housework. It was not a fit day to be abroad.

Though, to be fair, we did manage to find a brief spell of sunlight and blue sky at about 2:30. I quickly grabbed the poodles and took off for the avenue of trees where a fallen branch barred our way. Rather than walk between the trees, given the strength of the wind and the evidence before us, we decided to walk on the grass, giving the trees a wide berth.

The trees are falling!

There were a few hardy souls who, like me, decided this was the only time to hit the park. While the sun was out and the clouds had vanished towards Guildford, the wind was still very strong, blowing leaves everywhere in great cascades of colour through the air. The poodles caught a number of them as we headed back to the house. They didn’t mean to.

As we approached the bench upon which I re-harness the dogs, I looked back up the hill. A massive, black, foreboding cloud was swallowing the sky. We made haste for the house. 15 minutes after getting in and settled, everything went black and it bucketed down once more.

Sitting at my desk, I noticed a rainbow. Here’s a photo I quickly took through the window.

Rainbow through the study window

A truly awful day. Best forgotten and let’s see what tomorrow brings. Here’s the girls in a puddle. That makes it a poodle puddle, of course. I think, personally, that ‘puddle’ should be the collective term for a group of poodles.

A puddle of poodles

Ever since we changed the clocks, the rain has hardly stopped. Mirinda and the puppies have spent the last two days inside. I went shopping but otherwise spent the day inside, studying.

And then, just before 7pm, Mirinda suggested we walk to the castle. The rain had stopped and she was going a bit stir crazy. Naturally I laughed. I mean, how could I possibly go before 7:15? I told her as much. She thinks I’m a bit obsessed about The Archers.

And so, at 7:15, we left the house. As we reached the Avenue of Trees, a sea of mud spread out before us. The poodles were a bit sceptical about walking across it. We managed to get through the first bit, reaching the relatively solid grass.

All was fine except for the chill wind, until the hail started. It was lashing us, almost horizontal with the wind. We struggled to walk into it, the puppies’ ears stretched out alongside their heads, forced backwards. Carmen wanted to turn and give us a querulous glance but she was frightened her head would come off.

We didn’t make it as far as the castle. Mirinda shouted something impossible to hear. She turned, so I assumed she had suggested we return home. As soon as we started walking, the weather improved. That was mostly because the wind was now blowing from behind us.

We safely arrived home and the lovely short coated puppies took very little time to dry.