barley underwater

Water, water everywhere – in cellars, in fields with crops, on roads, flooding whole areas like never before, forcing people out of their homes along the Thames and in Somerset and the South West of Britain. Above is a picture of a local field in Herefordshire; you can usually see the winter barley growing but now it is a lake. Yes, it has been wet outside, relentlessly wet and grey and dreary, with dark overcast skies, buckets of rain and gale force winds, which altogether, with the short winter days, has led belatrova to experience more difficulty rising in the morning when it is still dark outside.

not good

This mental state has also been accompanied by an inexplicable craving for more carbohydrate-rich foods, possibly leading to weight gain. Cake, pizza, roast potato, waffle, pasta, jam, and, er, dried fruit and pickles, we know not why, but we do know that weather affects our mood and our digestion. However, cake bad, fresh fish good – so here’s a picture of both.

fresh fish on belatrova platter good

Being of a generally sunny disposition we at the workshop buzz along busily despite the sound of falling rain overhead, and one of us even nipped into Wales for a break; a case of “out of the frying pan into the fire” since the land was even wetter there, though on the way back it stopped raining and a scattering of snow made an appearance, transforming the landscape in a subtle way.

Welsh hillside with a hint of snow

Still, the temptation to jet off to hotter places will be resisted, and any holidays

sun worship

won’t take place till later in the year. In any case, the accompanying drawing is a reminder of what happens if you cannot control your winter craving for carbohydrates and decide to sunbathe in a foreign clime.

On the way to Stoke on Trent to buy more clay we drove uphill towards Malvern and for the first time in a long time saw a parting of the clouds and a sign from heaven. Everything’s going to be alright.

on the road to Malvern