There was snow and frost during my stay, but compared to some we got off lightly, as a call from a friend in Dorset reported that they had 3 inches of the cold white stuff whereas in Rhos-on-Sea at least it was confined to the tops of the mountains.
But there were some mornings were it really felt like spring, when you walk out of the door in a morning and the cold hits your face, or in an evening when you leave the warmth of a pub and a clear night makes your face tingle.
The primroses, snowdrops and blossom were beautiful, as were the garden birds; blackcaps, nuthatches, song thrush and blackbirds, very different to the magpie robin, sunbirds and Seychelles warblers I have become used to.
The lifestyle too is very different, the UK with coffee shops, full of cappuccinos, hot chocolates and rich cakes.
With pubs that sell steak pie and chips, when the gravy from the pie makes your chips soggy and stops your peas from having to be chased round the plate and of course pints of Guinness and big glasses of red wine, then there was a trip to the cinema – I haven’t done that for years!
Then there are so many types of cheese, fruit, chocolate, crisps, and vegetables, and of course family and friends full of hugs and love.
As I sit and write this, I have once more swapped the armchair and wood stove for a deck chair outside; ghost and hermit crabs wander about the sand in front of me, fairy terns cackle above me and the chorus from the sooty terns is deafening, only over powered periodically by the wail of the Audubon Shearwaters as they go hurtling by on their way out to sea – it’s pretty magic.
The moon has just risen in the nights’ sky and has lit up the island, although just past its full phase, it is still large enough to reflect on the sea looking like a strip of gold, it makes the silver sand on the beach glisten. And as I watch the fruit bats fly silhouetted in front of it, although hard to believe, it is very nice to think that this very moon is same moon that lights up your night world too.
