The Enid Blyton Society

Am I the only one who's not understanding a word? I can guess by context, of course....and there always is GoogleGuru!
Referring to the topic though, the weather has started to get really hot down here, (no actually not, just too hot to be appreciated) and I'm dreading the approaching summer. My exams start soon as well, so that's not helping.

The one saving grace though: Come the end of March, India has the best mangoes ever!

Darrell71 wrote: The one saving grace though: Come the end of March, India has the best mangoes ever!

Yum... now you're making me jealous, Sunskriti. We don't get really, really fresh sun-ripened mangoes in the UK like we do in Australia. And even Australian mangoes don't have quite as good a reputation as Indian ones. Is it the Alphonso mango that's one of your most famous? I haven't tried one, but a friend who's been to India many times told me once that Alphonso mangoes taste so good that "you'll think you've died and gone to heaven."

Not much chance of anything tropical here today, though... it's another grey and rainy day in south-east England.

Meanwhile there are pure cornflower blue skies in the Midlands, as Enid would describe them!

Very nice! Enid did use that term a lot, didn't she — although now that I've seen what cornflowers look like, I'm sure they're a much deeper blue than I've ever seen in an English sky even on a sunny day... forget-me-not blue would be more like it!

Courtenay wrote:

Darrell71 wrote: The one saving grace though: Come the end of March, India has the best mangoes ever!

Yum... now you're making me jealous, Sunskriti. We don't get really, really fresh sun-ripened mangoes in the UK like we do in Australia. And even Australian mangoes don't have quite as good a reputation as Indian ones. Is it the Alphonso mango that's one of your most famous? I haven't tried one, but a friend who's been to India many times told me once that Alphonso mangoes taste so good that "you'll think you've died and gone to heaven."

Yes, the Alphonso mango, (locally known as Hapus) is the most famous and one of the most delicious. "you'll think you've died and gone to heaven." just about sums it up. It has a sweet, thick mangoey taste. In India, mango pulp, called Aamras, is eaten with chapatis, a flat roundish breadish thing. It's literally heaven on Earth. If you want real mangoes, you've gotta come here. There are other varieties, a popular one being Payri, which has a slightly tangy flavor. In the summer hols, we kids here look forward to one thing with the utmost anticipation, i.e. mangoes! Just sliced and served, served as aamras with a chapati, served as mango juice or a mango milkshake, life isn't complete without 'em!

Courtenay wrote:Not much chance of anything tropical here today, though... it's another grey and rainy day in south-east England.

I wish it was like that over here! I love grey and rainy days!

Darrell71 wrote:Yes, the Alphonso mango, (locally known as Hapus) is the most famous and one of the most delicious. "you'll think you've died and gone to heaven." just about sums it up.

"Hapus" is Welsh for "happy"!

Mmmm... mango heaven. That would be nice. As it is, though, at least it's just turned sunny outside in Kent!

Sadly, mangoes are one of the highest-sugar fruits, so are off the menu for me.

Today was a typical example of British weather.

This morning I sweltered in the kitchen when cooking the dinner as it was very humid. I thought we'd miss the fly over for the Queen's birthday as there was a lot of low cloud, but amazingly it broke up enough in time for us to get a fantastic view of the planes flying directly over our house. (Some years we can only hear them somewhere up over us).

We'd planned to walk into town after dinner to do some shopping, however about 2.00 the heavens opened and not only were we put off venturing out into the torrential rain, but we thought it too risky while the thunder (and presumably lightening) were overhead. Eventually it cleared up and we set off about an hour later with just a few odd spots of drizzle in the air.

Within half an hour or so of arriving in town, the sun was beating down, and we were stripping off cardigans and raincoats!

I left town about 5.30 and went to ASDA with my children - the dark clouds that had started to gather in the sky got closer and closer during our journey, and it was no surprise when we left the store about a short while to see the rain hammering down again. As it showed no sign of clearing any time soon, my daughter bravely dashed across the car park and brought the car to where we were sheltering.

The plan had been to go along the A road around the edge of town to Tesco, but she decided maybe it would be best to head back into town. A wise decision, as the rain got even worse, drastically reducing visibility. I dread to think what it would have been like at a higher speed, it was bad enough with her doing under 30mph. A short way along our route we came across a motor cycle lying in the middle of the road - fortunately the rider was able to limp to safety and several kind hearted motorists went to his aid, despite the fact they must have got drenched.

We decided to go to Sainsbury's which was just a short distance away, and despite the slow speed, the car threatened to aquaplane at one point. Turning into the road leading up to Sainsbury's we had to pass over a man hole cover which was sending up 3 short jets of water. I've never been so thankfully to reach a supermarket in my life!

I think the 3 of us all felt that we'd be prepared to stay there for the night rather than venturing out again, but by the time we'd done a little bit of shopping, the rain had pretty much stopped. Although on our way back we noticed that the police had put a warning sign by the patch of water where we'd nearly skidded - it was now a pool of water which covered almost one half of the road.

The quantity of water put me in mind of the Secret Mountain, I could really appreciate how quickly the river might have built up after such a downpour.

I wonder what tomorrow will bring?

Last week I was sunbathing in the garden at lunch time, completely clear sky, little breeze and gloriously hot. I then went to work and by 4pm people were coming in to buy umbrellas, shoes to put on instead of sandals and coats. It was hammering down and it was so bad that we had flooding in a few places.

Sounds similar to the weather in the summer-rainfall area here in summer - warm or hot sunny days with a break for a thunderstorm, then it clears up again.
Down where I live it is different with winter rains, and we hope we get enough this year to replenish the dams.

Raining here in Ireland. Like always!
It was sunny last week, indeed it was delightful! I have some beautiful pictures of the Kenmare pier. A pity it has gone back to the old weather. Thanks God I am going to the US and Peru in some weeks, once my sister finishes her Leaving Certificate. It'll be a nice change!
Is it true there has been floods in France?
PD : I will not be in time for the mangoes in Peru, as they are summer fruits, and I am going there on winter. Really, mangoes are the fruits from heaven

Yes, it was in the news, it seems they had to remove pieces from the Louvre, bcause the Seine is very high.

It was all in the news here, a few weeks after my parents came back rom France!
The monsoon has still not arrived, though we had a few days of rain about a week ago! The whole area is charged with hope for a better monsoon, otherwise I don't know what will happen.