HOT!

Here we are, early April - and lookie here, it's 24C this afternoon in Warsaw! Magnificent! By the time I'd walked the 2,000 paces or so to the office from a press conference on ul. Miodowa, my back was wet from sweat under my rucksack - and I'm wearing a shirt and lightweight suit - certainly no coat. But I could see who left home early this morning (not me!) - by the evening rush hour, many Varsovians could be seen clutching coats and jackets under their arms. Mid-twenties way too hot for coats. Amazing to thing that this time last year (see link) it was actually snowing!

Below: chart from the Physics Institute at the Warsaw Technical University for the past week. Not how on Saturday morning (02/04), the temperature just before dawn was 2C, with a 'feel-like' (odczuwalna - the light-blue line) of near-zero. This morning it was 10C at dawn.

And the clocks going forward give that yearned for extra hour of daylight in the evenings. At long last, spring has burst forth. Warmth and light. An entire city rejoices.

But traditions die hard - back in Jeziorki, I witnessed two grandparents with their five year-old charge wearing a knitted woollen hat. "Wracaj, bo ci komary pogryzą!" There must have been a handful of insects in the air, certainly not the biting type - culex pipiens. Let's hope it will not a summer for them, may the dragonflies reappear in profusion and eat the little devils.

It's now approaching 11pm, and according to the Institute, it's currently 17.8C outside. Balmy!

And a Very Happy 93rd Birthday to my father, in excellent form - walking 5,000 paces from home to Greenford. Sto lat! A sunny day in London too - but a mere 14C!

This time last year:
Snowy Easter Sunday

This time two years ago:
Happy 91st to my father!

This time three years ago:
My father at 90

This time six years ago:
An independent Scotland - what if?

This time five years ago:
Królikarnia - Warsaw's 'rabbit house'

This time eight years ago:
My father at 85