The ash cloud arrived here yesterday, a light grey coating on the car and just about everything else.

The temperature is down from the High Summer we have been enjoying for months, and it is almost chilly.

The situation at the airports was not too bad, with those in the South of the country still operational, but I am not sure what this change will bring. It brings to my mind Shakespear's description of our sea girt shores,

"This royal throne of kings, this scepter'd isle,
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise,
This fortress built by Nature for herself
Against infection and the hand of war,
This happy breed of men, this little world,
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall,
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands,
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England"

Richard II - Act 2 Scene 1

'Engand' was at the time used interchangably with 'Britain', of course.

Anne the Pleater :ootd: