Heavenly ice

I was sitting in the office, checking out a website for Mirinda when Carmen started her usual barking at something she couldn’t see. She didn’t stop, so I went into the bedroom to see what she was trying to frighten off. At the top of the road, two young boys were putting their scooters through their paces. As is only natural, they were making a lot of noise doing it.

The window is too high for Carmen to see out of it so I picked her up and showed her. Above the houses across the road I watched as a huge black cloud approached. I told Carmen we were lucky we’d just finished our walk as it looked like more rain was on the way.

Again, today, the weather has been a rolling succession of wet and dry so I expected another shower before more sun. I put Carmen back on the bed and walked back into the study just as it started. Only it wasn’t rain. It was deafening and it was hail.

The house grew very dark as I grabbed my camera and went into the spare room. The dogs weren’t far behind me, huddling next to me as the thunder started, vying for audial supremacy. Outside, the hail was bouncing off the kitchen roof. I opened the window and managed to get a few shots of it bouncing off the tiles.

Glad we weren't outside

We watched as the back garden turned to white. It looked like snow, quickly covering the grass, the path, the herb table, everything. I’m surprised birds weren’t knocked out of the air in the ferocity. And then, just as suddenly as it had arrived, it stopped. I went back into the bedroom to look down the street, the dogs almost walking on my feet.

The hail aftermath

I searched for the two boys, expecting them to be spattered all over the road, but they were nowhere to be seen. I hope they managed to find shelter, otherwise they are going to bed with massive headaches tonight. The dogs didn’t leave me alone for a good hour after the storm had gone.

One little creature that would have been safe and secure was our little mother robin who has taken up residence in the bird box that some previous owner of our house put up on the wall between us and next door. A little earlier I managed to snap her sitting on her nest. I really hope she was there when the hail struck.

You can just see her little face to the left of the branch in the centre