A Ray of Sunshine Fell on Cumbria, Today.
Sunshine in Appleby
Early, this morning , I awoke with something hurting my eyes., hurried to the bathroom and rinsed my face with cold water. I am not a morning person, so this was a most unisual sight for my husband. My eyes seemed ok.............
As l opened my eyes l realised it was brilliant sunshine penetrating my pink rose curtains....WHAT?! Did i fly home to my beautiful island whilst asleep?
As l crept out of bed trying not to wake my husband, l recognised my bedroom as the one l´ve been sleeping in for the past 11 months.
THUD!. Reality check. This bedroom is in the very pretty apartment l´ve been living in since l was forcibly dragged, kicking and screaming from my home in the Canary Islands.(Only a SLIGHT exaggeration) .
l closed the bedroom door on my sleeping man and walked into the sitting room..... WOW!
The sun had lost its way. How could it get things so wrong after about 8 billion years of shining in the right places.. You´d think the sun would know its way around the Universe by now. What on earth was it doing shining down our little Hamlet.?
(Local people may not forgive the use of the word Hamlet, .Appleby is generally referred to as a ´town´among all the little villages nearby). The only reason l can imagine for calling it a town is the fact that as well as having a tiny post office that also sells Greetings Cards., Appleby can boast TWO banks.!
Perhaps l should at least upgrade it from Hamlet, to village in view of this fact.
However , since l have lived here sunshine is so alien that l feared for my life... If the sun can get lost, there´s no hope for any of us......
l decided it may be a good idea to go outside and check on the reality of this phenomenon
i opened my front door , to be greeted by a gale force wind that blew my hair into a style that Amy Whinehouse would be proud of.!......and yet, despite the wind....it really was the sun shining in Cumbria...in April..!
My brain could barely process this information, as l saw the fruit and vegetable shop being opened up by a man wearing a T- shirt and shorts. Eeeek!! He must have taken leave of his senses.. The sun will surely realise its mistake any minute now and disappear to its usual track of shining down South, but the wind will remain with us. This guy is going to freeze.
Not my problem, l went back inside to find my husband standing perfectly still and staring at me... Poor man was in shock. He too had woken up and thought we must have been transported in our sleep by some invisible force, (or possibly the gale-force winds)
The tiny pharmacy called Boot (as it is too small to be called BootS) had sold out of suncream by 10.0 a.m. The little shop had been invaded by all 20 or so inhabitants of Appleby.
Cumbria !! North-West of England almost into Scotland.... Beautiful, mountainous , but cloudy, Scotland.
Last summer l had a phone call from my brother living down South, to tell me how silly he´d been allowing himself to get sunburnt whilst playing with the children. l did a double-take out of the window when he complained of sunburn, since l was basking in the normal Northern Summer drizzle dripping from grey clouds.
Yet, now here we are in April.... in Cumbria...and the sun has lost its way, honouring us with its presence.
l thought l´d better phone a friend to calm myself down.
FRIEND: Well, Dim, We did warn you that the weather is very changeable up here.
ME: Yes , changeable. l was here last Summer, remember?The weather changed from freezing cold in May to pouring rain through July and August. OK admittedly the rain was slightly warmer....but this is real sunshine, are you sure the sun has not lost its way. We could be on the verge of a Universal disaster.. l think l´ll put the t.v. news on to be sure.
FRIEND: Yes, you do that , dear (nutcase Dim) living here for almost a year has obviously melted your brain slightly. It Happens ! Talk to you later. Must go . The baby is crying . He´s too warm.................
ME: AAaaaaaaaaaaargh!!!! Thanks. Bye...
i saunter into our bright sunny sitting room to find my husband already sitting in front of the t.v.looking at a map of Britain. Sure enough there was a young lady pointing out the usual enormous grey patch over Scotland but ending on the way into Cumbria.
Appleby had a large smiley sun on it, as did most of Cumbria. No mention of the sun getting lost. The weatherlady only gave gale warnings but assured us that the sun was here for the day.
Amazing! Incredible! Worthy of the local newspaper!.
The sun is quite entitled to lose its way ocassionally as far as l´m concerned.
Despite the wind, the guy in the T-shirt and shorts was smiling as he closed the shop at the end of a sunny day in Appleby.
Beauty Spot
On a more serious note, Cumbria is a well known beauty spot in ¨The Lake District¨. , which attracts hundreds of thousands of hikers and country-lovers every Summer. The views are splendid.The lakes and forests a joy to behold.
