In praise of blue sky

The sky has been perfectly cloudless for the best part of three weeks now. As the sun's elevation in the late-winter heavens becomes higher, so daytime temperatures have returned above zero. And the warming effect is both melting and evaporating the snow cover - the optimum way that avoids the flooding associated with a rainy meltdown.

At night, temperatures are still fall below zero, though we're no longer getting the -18C that we experienced last week. Spring feels closer, day by day. The sky is marvellous, the sunshine so life-enhancing. Time, then, to catch some of it with a polarising filter against some white architecture.

Left: penthouse apartments on ul. Górnośląska, Solec (southern Powiśle). The look is very moderne, very '30s.

Right: Street art on the side of a brick tenement building on ul. Górnośląska, painted last year as part of Chopin's birth bicentennial.

What struck me was the shadow of the piano leg (an upended Palace of Culture); as I took the photo, the shadow appeared natural, giving the painting a strangely realistic yet unrealistic air. The city of Warsaw now seems to be celebrating the composer's 201st birthday.

Left: statue of Polish politician Wincenty Witos (of the agrarian tendency) on Plac Trzech Krzyży, outside the Sheraton Hotel. The area around the statue is a favourite haunt for Warsaw's skateboarding community, while students sit in front of the plinth to read poetry.

Long may such weather continue! Long live sunshine! Let spring blossom forth - and soon!

This time two years ago:
WAM PLUNK BISH BASH ZUNK!

This time three years ago:
Four weeks of fasting