You're thinking cold, grey day?

Yeah, right.

Looking at the readings from the Bureau the highest temperature recorded at an inland site today (more representative than those taken right on the coast) was 26.4 degrees. That is not exceptionally hot in itself, but combined with 86 to 87% humidity (50 to 60% is generally the ideal percentage for comfort) and the fact that the heat and humidity has hung around for so very long... This was not a cool morning. Yes, it was overcast with a low cloud that hung over and obscured the top of the escarpment to the west, but that was all it was; more summer mist than cloud.

Just before posting this I stepped outside. The temperature did not feel that hot. Yet the pebblecrete surrounding the pool still felt warm to the touch. The heat has permeated everything, and it will be some time before we're rid of it. This was a grey morning, but no cold one.

So I'm up to date. I made a commitment to myself that I wouldn't let myself get more than a week behind in my postings, something that I came perilously close to when earlier this week the video card stopped outputting a signal on the DVI port. That meant falling back to the motherboard's onboard graphics which could charitably be described as "chunky". (Hence I'm also behind on commenting since the relatively low res on a relatively big monitor did the presentation of photos no favours.) Thankfully cracking open the system box and re-seating the card fixed the problem.

I'm also returning to my old habit of putting a thumbnail of last year's image up. I abandoned that last year because the number of images from 2013 were meagre and there were too many gaps, but last year was much better. Sometimes the comparison is interesting, as I've noted in the gallery of at least one of my favourites.

Last Year