Looking through the windows of a city office I watched as people trotted past beneath umbrellas and the grey of the pavements turned deep in colour as the rain bore down on the urban setting. The downpours brought about complaints from those within the office but I felt strangely comfortable sitting within the warmth looking upon the scenes outside.
Later that day all was not so well back at the hovel, the colder temperature and weather front brought about a huge hail storm, blocking the valley gutter and sending melt water through the roof. I was fortunate to be on my way home when this occurred and after a swift climb onto the roof with a shovel I was able to clear the hail and standing water before any major damage happened. Relieved by my good fortune I stood for a moment on the roof and cast my eyes over the landscape, enjoying the higher vantage point and the cool breeze drifting over the ridge.
It was a few days more before I could take to the roads in the early evening to put my thoughts and week into perspective. The sky was still laden with the tumbling grey rain clouds. I headed up a hill between two rural Nottinghamshire villages and found myself traveling alongside hawthorn hedges with their young leaves clinging to the rainwater. An old oak tree stood amongst the hedge. It too was beginning to burst into life as the branches bore the beginnings of a new canopy. It would not be long before the leaves would be able to carry the drum beat of the later spring rains and offer some protection to walkers who might seek shelter from the beginnings of a shower.The spring rains remind me of the power within the landscape. They seem to bring a vast charge of life and vitality. The ditches and watercourses thunder with the rush of water as they carry it into the lower river valley. A wet spring may not always bring the comfort people seek after winter but it gives the later months a chance of bountiful crops and a land swathed in deep greens. I am lucky to live within a place of such power and energy. When I listen to tales from other wanders of their time spent within the drier lands of the world, I realise how much energy the land here can hold and how much life it can support. It seems that we are truly wealthy but so many people are unaware of it.
