Strange Tales

We recently had Hurricane Ophelia potter past. Although it made a nasty mess as it came up round Ireland, by the time it reached our vicinity it was just full of hot air. It was quite strange, after a night of howling gales – and if you live within a few yards of a wood, as we do, you’ll know how descriptive this phrase is – and thrashing branches, the days were blustery but not overly so, but this bluster was unnaturally warm. It was almost as though it had been sitting all day in front of the fire, watching the television with all the doors and windows closed. It felt decidedly stuffy and musty. It made you want to breath shallowly so as not to have to inhale too much of the stuff.

The strange, Fifth Dimension feel, extended to the daylight itself. It was dull and overcast. Now when it comes to dull and overcast you’d think that we had tried them all. Especially this year which has been almost a whole year of every variety of dull and overcast you can imagine. The dull and overcast of that day, however, just felt wrong.

Then the sun broke through the clouds. As you can see from the picture, it, too, was eerie and just plain strange.