grumpyf1

(Incandescent rage not pictured.) Few things annoy me more than suddenly finding myself in an unexpected traffic jam. True, we’re pretty lucky in much of Cumbria – miles of lovely roads with scenic views, beautiful villages and relatively light traffic. Of course, that doesn’t always apply. Every town has it’s queues, and when the tourists show up, it can get particularly frustrating. I’m lucky enough to have a cross-county drive into Ambleside to work. Mostly, it’s a delight – Windermere glistening on my left, the mountains rising in front of me as I arrive at the office. Heading home at night is mostly good too, but half-terms, bank holidays and the summer can easily add half an hour to my normal 50 minute drive, as I struggle to even get across Ambleside, whilst the seasonal visitors make their way back to their temporary homes after a grand day out. When the tourists aren’t about, preparations are made to ensure everything is nice for their next arrival. This regularly ...

Lovely day in Cumbria... To make optimal use of the word ‘understatement’ - it’s been an interesting couple of weeks weather-wise, hasn’t it? Last week featured rain that would have seen Noah reaching for his saw and nails, whilst glancing nervously at the sky and wondering what the giraffes were up to. Where I work, on the edge of Ambleside, the river Brathay filled up rapidly enough that it was actually higher than the road. Unfortunately, this being Cumbria, it was being held back by a dry stone wall, so the river was squirting out through the gaps between the stones and filling up the road. True, it wasn’t all bad. Someone in a ’17-plate Mercedes obviously presumed their car must be amphibious, and had attempted to drive through the deepening flood. When you pay that much for a car, I guess you just expect it to come with an automatic ‘boat’ mode. Still, I’m sure their carpets will dry out eventually. And their shoes and trousers. My journey home (as I’m sure many of your...