Cooling off...

Well, temperature has dropped significantly since two weeks, ten days ago. Some areas of Switzerland have been able to lift the ban on lighting outdoor fires -- in some five decades I've never yet heard of wildfire warnings this early in the year. Rivers and lakes are much lower than normal -- seems like we're getting a serious taste of climate things to come.

Trees are in their summer green already. Lilacs are over, wisteria almost, laburnum in full bloom. A few white-flowering shrubs are coming and that'll be it for the great flowering of this spring. Due to the lack of raindrops on petals, we've had a good run.

No new photos; I've been too busy working.

Also,these last few nights I've been captivated by the snooker world championship at the Crucible in Sheffield. Most of my friends are shocked to find I'm a fan of this game. Don't know whether I'd be any good at it myself but I certainly enjoy the concentration, the quiet, the elegance. Great pity, though, that there don't seem to be any women out there and up there among the best. Who am I rooting for? I really don't know. Both the young contender, Mark Selby, and the defender of his World Cup, John Higgins, play brilliantly (most of the time). It's just a pleasure to watch two such equally matched men play against each other.

More some other time.

Must be great for the Sheffielders.