Tempestuous morn in Stobo

More accurately, a tempestuous afternoon, and the rain was relentless and drenching rather than volleying. I'm at a loss this year for where to place Matthew Arnold's 'tempestuous morn in early June'.

So, some tempestuous morn in early June,
When the year's primal burst of bloom is o'er,
Before the roses and the longest day -
When garden-walks and all the grassy floor
With blossoms red and white of fallen May
And chestnut-flowers are strewn -
So have I heard the cuckoo's parting cry,
From the wet field, through the vext garden-trees,
Come with the volleying rain and tossing breeze;
The bloom is gone, and with the bloom go I!

We've had tempest, but a dry one. The May and chestnut flowers have fallen before June came in. The roses - wild dog roses and garden ones - are already in flower. Only the longest day seems a constant. It is all very disconcerting.

So I may as well fix on yesterday's afternoon in the Japanese water garden at Stobo Home Farm. The occasion was a charity opening of the garden in aid of St Columba's hospice in Edinburgh. My daughter's string quartet was providing some of the music for the event. The woodland setting was charming, and on a fine day would have been delightful. As it was their fingers froze (temperature: 8 degrees C), their bows loosened, and their instruments did not like the damp one bit. Heroically, they played their two sets in an open-fronted summer house on a small island.

Access was by slippery stepping stones.


The other musician was a young piper from my daughter's school. The summerhouse would have been deafening for him, even with standard issue earplugs. So he found the driest spot under a tree, and would dismantle the drones and dry them out when he got home.


Below, the car park in the fine Scottish tradition: a soggy, muddy field, with enthusiastic marshalling provided by army cadets.


With all this water, it was inevitable that there would have to be a trip to the 'facilities', down this farm track...

Today I've been cleaning mud off shoes. I've even had to wash my shoelaces. Still, the music was appreciated, and the quartet knows to add wellies to its kit list for any outside engagement in the Scottish summer.