Bleak

My Advent window was based on the carol

In the Bleak Midwinter.

In reality there is no snow.

It rains and it rains.

Meandering rivers and new lakes are upwelling

in the fields below our house.

The sea and sky have merged.

The dark spattered windows and dripping gutters,

complete the sensation of being cast out

into the stormy ocean.

But the new roof is watertight,

and the house is warm and candlelit.

We had friends and family visiting

and eating in our newly completed extension

and all was well.

The daylight hours are lengthening,

if only a minute at a time,

and these bleakest of days will recede.
Meanwhile I take heart from the promise
that there will be no hose pipe ban next year.