Spring is sprung...

... although so far there's been little indeed of the "little April showers" for which this land is famed. The rainy country is in the grip of a drought, which is terrible for farmers, and people with lush gardens - pretty much the whole country has a blanket ban on using hoses for watering, washing the car, anything!)

However the distinct lack of rain makes it grand for travellers - it's sunny for at least part of most days, which is grand. And spring here is amazing - one minute everything's dead and grey, and then, literally in the space of a week, daffodils shoot up out of the lawns everywhere, blossoms appear on trees, and the place becomes a riot of colour. That week seems to have been the one during which I was in Dublin, so the change is quite marked.

London is actually more green and less grey than I imagined. A few places are very proud of the fact that 34% of London's surface area is public park/garden (more than any other city in europe,and not half bad for a city that crams 13 million people into an area the size of Melbourne!). So now leaves are starting to appear on trees, and I have had my first 'day without wearing my winter coat outside' just last week! Bring it on.