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Strangely warm

My niece Rhonda and her husband are visiting from Amsterdam. Last night we stood outside my office waiting for Richard to pick us up and they said the temperature was like summer in Amsterdam. We are having such a strangely warm November-December.

The Autumn leaves lasted forever which was just wonderful - except for those responsible for sweeping them up! Jasmine, the Hauswartin for our complex, has a strong commitment to a "Bio" lifestyle so she still uses the old manual methods for both leaves and snow. She has had not snow to shovel so far but plenty leaves. And we have only had two very light frosts so far. Plus not a lot of rain. I saw a poor confused azalea flowering and roses continue to bloom - hopefully Spring will not come before Winter.

So what this means is that the Christmas markets don't have quite their usual charm (a lot of which comes from walking around in the snow, freezing, and having to rush to the gluhwein stands all the time to get warm again).

But the lights are still delightful especially at the Lindt factory - will have to try and get there early evening soon so I can get "evidence".

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