End of August, end of summer?

The end of August; with it the end of meteorological summer. Astronomical summer ends with the Autumn Equinox, which this year occurs on 22 September. Seasons come earlier to London than to Warsaw; you can feel spring in the air by February there, whereas in Warsaw you have to wait to April. And so summer lingers longer here, but even so, this year, the end of August was beautiful, with four clear days of sunshine before the clouds rolled on marking a change.

So then, a quick overview from Town and Around of the last three weeks, since my return from London. I begin by taking a look at our ponds. Below: a coot. The coots are thriving this year.

Below: the swan family is down to five cygnets (from six chicks born)

Below: so good to see the great crested grebes doing well.

Below: the harvest is in, the straw cut and baled. Looking across from ul. Karczunkowska towards Mysiadło.

Below: I confess to having had a bit of fun tweaking this photo (below) of an empty coal train returning from Siekierki, to give the impression of a baking savannah

Below: part of the flypast on 15 August, a formation of MiG-29s over Warsaw, snapped from the Ballast Mountain (as was indeed the above photo).

Into town. Below - view from my office window as a storm front crosses over from north to south bringing a massive downpour. Ten minutes later, rain was lashing central Warsaw. Half an hour later, the sky had cleared. This was 23 August.

Below: one evening last week I walked from my office all the way down to Metro Racławicka (4.6km), passing the entrance to ul. Śniadeckich from Pl. Konstytucji on the way.

I wrote about the Ilyushin Il-14 that has been turned into a restaurant on the corner of ul. Marszałkowska and Świętokrzyska back in mid-July. The city authorities said it would be removed as it was installed without any planning permission. Well guess what, it's still here,

Palace of Culture's still here too!

I managed to snap the floral clock on the southern side of the palace. The photo was taken with my arms raised as high as possible, then slightly stretched on Photoshop - which suggests that either the angle at which it was set is too low for passers-by, or that it exists so to tell the time for the guests at the Marriott. Photo on Google Maps satellite view shows the floral mermaid by the clock, which was not planted this year.

This time last year:
Pavement for Karczunkowska... a bit at least

This time two years ago:
Gold Train update (the hope! the expectations!)

This time three years ago:
Changes to Poland's road traffic laws

This time four years ago:
Poland post the Rubbish Revolution

This time five years ago:
Poland's most beautiful street

This time six years ago:
Getting to grips with phrasal verbs

This time eight years ago:
What Putin wrote about Molotov-Ribbentrop

This time nine years ago:
Summer Sunday in the city

This time ten years ago:
Last bike-ride to work of the summer