Every year at this time, PP and I attend a group BBQ at Fairlight picnic site. Last year it was really hot and sunny, and we all tried to squeeze into the only bit of shade afforded by a clump of trees. This year, it was extremely windy, and squally rain threatened from the outset.
Undaunted however, several people set up a BBQ and started to cook, while keeping a weather eye on the grey clouds massing overhead.
Just a few metres away, the Salvation Army annual BBQ was also in full swing, with around 50 people all trying to look as though they were enjoying themselves, while huddled in jumpers and coats. After about an hour, they gave up the unequal fight and decided to decamp back to their hall, and so packed up all their gear and headed off. Leaving we 16 or so hardy souls putting a brave face on an increasingly weather beaten picnic. Despite the wind, and the blustery showers which did, inevitably fall, we successfully managed to eat what we'd taken, although several people had to chase paper plates and plastic glasses across the grass, not to mention camping chairs which took to the air as soon as they were vacated.
Oh how we laughed as those of us with umbrellas fought to prevent either becoming airborne, or having our arms pulled out of their sockets.
Eventually, after 3 hours of this, we finally conceded defeat, and hurriedly packed up, in what had become a raging gale, threatening to rip off the car door as soon as it was opened.
It really feels as though summer is over, and we are on the slide into autumn again. And we've not even reached the August summer Bank Holiday weekend yet.
In other news, I'm feeling really rather pleased with myself after spending 2 hours this afternoon struggling to load a video onto a memory card which will play on a digital picture frame. In the end I had to convert the video file from WMV to Mpeg-4 and do some reformatting stuff to get it to work. I am now basking in the glow of having triumphed over technology, a feeling which is becoming less and less familiar to me. Of course when I come to do it again in a few weeks time, I will likely have forgotten how to and have to go through the same rigmarole all over again, but with the added frustration of knowing that I had done it successfully before.
*sigh*
1 comment:
Freakishly - at the same moment, I was in the process of passing out from Heatstroke on the beach at Eastbourne. We could actually see the black squall over Fairlight where we were sitting - but the scorching sun has badly burnt my head and I had to be taken home barely aware of my surroundings. I hate the sun and wasn't expecting it at all. This morning Hastings was cold and windy - but Brighton was like Dubai..... I suspect it's because the rates are much higher.
Post a Comment