The Non-Picnic

So where was it then? The rain that was supposed to be deluging the south-east today? The rain that stopped us going on a picnic?

We had a picnic planned, you see. We were going to take Chris, Leane and Kayleigh out for the day, to Bedgebury Pinetum, to the lake full of water lilies, for a picnic. But the weatherman - the BBC weatherman - said it was going to rain. Oh yes, he did, because when he said it, I distinctly remember saying something along the lines of 'Bummer. That's going to scupper our picnic plans. I'll have to come up with a Plan B.' Which is something I didn't really want to do, because when I make a plan I like to stick to it and not deviate in any way. And I'm feeling particularly inflexible, planwise, these days. And it's August. August should be sunny.

Anyway, I decided to wait until it was actually today before calling off the picnic and implementing Plan B. Because call me Mrs Cynical, but I don't wholly trust the weathermen. I mean, they are only predictors after all. Soothsayers. Guessers of the future. They might be wrong about the weather. It could happen.

So this morning the sky was bluish with a bit of greyish flat cloud. Bit windy. Plan B was looking preferable. And then the sun came out! Bright blazing sunshine, bright blue sky and white fluffy clouds. My shopping dead-line for picnic purchases (quiches, sausage rolls, coleslaw, Cadbury's mini-roll, fizzy stuff and crisps) was 10.30 a.m.

At 10.23 a.m the sun had gone in, the wind was up, the rain-clouds were gathering and rain looked imminent. The weatherman looked like he was going to be right. Picnic shopping was cancelled.

But then, at nearly mid-day, when Plan B had been decided thereupon (which was to go for a pub lunch), the sun came out again and it was pretty obvious there would be no rain today, thank you very muchly.

Ooooooooh!

Anyway, the pub lunch was good. I especially enjoyed the view of the sunshine from the window. And then we came home and I put a load of washing out on the line and it's dry because luckily...... IT DIDN'T RAIN!