Gathering clouds

It was a humid and intermittently drizzly day, and by early evening the sky was darkening and clouds gathering along the valley and over the downs; the clouds we see above our hilltop skyline are usually the ones travelling along the Channel. Fortunately I remembered to close all the Velux windows just before the deluge began to hammer down on them. We were delighted to have rain: the garden and especially the trees are desperate for it, as are the chalk aquifers below east Kent which supply our drinking water. The photo shows how dry our garden and surrounding landscape have been.

Today's small achievement is my 600 days of Duolingo German. I've missed one here and there, but it's felt positive to hang onto those fifteen or twenty minutes a day. I'm not sure how much real conversation I would manage though, or whether I'll ever have the opportunity to find out.