Celandine like golden sign Proclaim the season's vivid flame
Yellow sheen with hope's first glow
Verge-side blaze of flower'd springtide
Ernest W Whiting, 1912-1984
The week's warmth has been nothing but springlike. It's almost as bonny as was February 1987. Have you noticed that the lesser celandine's been out more than a week? This year, it's about two to three weeks early. It sits alongside the early flowers, the common snowdrop and those garden escapees like truant children, the spring crocus. In mid-February, sat on a sunny bank, there was even a common primrose out, again early.
This winter's been unusual. We've not had snowfall in January since 2010. January and February oft saw freezing conditions overnight. February was also wet and we saw the
return of flooding at the foot of Clwyd Street not seen since 2000 and 2001. And now we enjoy temperatures as high at 16°C but with frost overnight.
If you want evidence of the effect of a wet yet cold winter, you need look no further than the unusual condition of our roads. Clwyd Street (above) is rutted and part of the binding and bearing courses are disappearing in a tide of chippings to the wearing course. St Peter's Square is similarly gouged and in a worse condition. Not only that, some residential roads have copped it. You might expect this on some rural roads (Greenfield Road's tentacle out to Hirwaen Crossroads is similarly bad) but we're seeing this in the town centre. This isn't a criticism of the highways department; it's a reflection and measure of the conditions we've seen this winter.
The weekend has also seen a high number of active leisure travellers. There's nowhere to go and nothing to do and we need to exercise from. While cycling between Rhuthun/Ruthi and Llandyrnog, I saw five horse riders and I lost county of those on foot and two wheels. We live in a beautiful part of the world and we are blessed plenty of opportunities on the doorstep. The Triangle was equally popular over the weekend.
Update 28/2/21: spotted the first bee hopping hopefully from flower to flower. So very early for them, too.
