RIP 2012

The rain and drizzle ceased for a bit, so I went in search of something to sum up the year. I was tempted by a blip of new shoots of bulbs emerging through water-logged soil, but that should be a New Year's Day blip - maybe I'll go back and catch them again tomorrow. Maybe the sun will shine on the scene then!
So I settled for hardy folk exercising their scrap of a dog on the Castle Meadows. I had heard this high ear-splitting cry, which I thought must be some sort of cross between a deranged cockatoo and a member of a studio audience in X-Factor or something similar, but it turned out to be this little fellow, who uttered the cry while careering through the mud as phenomenal speed in response to a thrown ball. You can just about spot the dog.
And there in the background, the Blorenge lurks in the drizzling embers of 2012. Does that bother a small dog after a ball? Not a jot! An example to us all: hang the weather, let's get covered in mud!