Tuesday 19 April 2011

I Don't Like To Gloat But......



Hullo ma wee blog,

Our friend M came up to the house this morning to sort out a problem with some lights at the house {pure hopeless at electricity, me} and commented how nice it was here compared to Dunbar where the sea haar {mist} has come in with the humidity from the good weather we've been experiencing these last few days. Their house is a couple of hundred yards from the sea and he said that he could barely see from one end of the garden to the other and had been quite chilled while we are basking in glorious sunshine here.

Once he'd successfully sorted our little problem {cheers mate by the way!} he mentioned he had some wood he was about to clear out of his shed so I volunteered to come and take it off his hands as we could use it to fuel the chiminea we have beside the patio. It's nice to sit out on a clear but chilly evening and be comforted by the heat from this wood burning stove while a few glasses of nice wine help us send the evening off in quiet contemplation or conversation. Soon after he departed I got ready to go down to Dunbar to pick up the wood and headed off after him. Less than a mile down the road the strands of haar were trailing off the fields and across the road and by the time I'd gone another mile I had to put on lights to drive - at mid-day!

I remember the haar well from the years we spent living down in Dunbar before we moved a few miles along the coast to where we are now and it was something I always hated. While the rest of the coast benefits from clear skies and sunshine, so often Dunbar is shrouded in sea-mist. This thick cloying haar can sometimes last for three weeks at a time, which is frustrating when you know that just a couple of miles away people are basking in the warmth of the sun, enjoying the fabulous views hereabouts and getting a nice little tan. By the time I'd arrived at M's house the temperature gauge in the car had plummeted from 16c to only 8c and I felt the chill immediately on stepping out of the car. While normally happy to stand around a while and chat or drink his coffee I was single minded today in my determination to get the wood into the back of the car and get back home. I may not be a good gardener. I may not even particularly like gardening, but I was glad to get back into the car and head home away from the damp and the chill of 'Sunny Dunny'.

I don't like to gloat but I had a huge smile on my face when I suddenly drove out of the haar again when I was almost back home. I turned off the lights on the car, rolled the window down, cranked up the music and watched the thermometer climb steadily upwards. Oncoming traffic - if they saw me at all - probably thought the car was being driven by a lunatic grinning away for no reason.

But now, cold cider freshly poured, the garden calls and for once I'll be only too happy to pull a few weeds or wander round with the lawn mower for an hour or two with the sun on my back. I'll be happy to spray the drive with weedkiller, rake some moss and above all enjoy an afternoon in the sun and a cider or two. Heck I may even risk bringing Jess out on her leash and tie her to one of the apple trees so she can lie in the shade, flick her tail and dream of chasing the young braves of the local sparrow squadron.

Sorry you're not here to share it M.

 Maybe you should put on a jumper.

And a hat.......

See you later.

Listening to

11 comments:

Nicky said...

Hehe, yes, I can imagine how you smiled and gloated on your way home! But I admit I'm still quite jealous of your friend for living just a hop, skip & jump away from the sea!

coastkid said...

I saw the Harr roll in today,
we have a PGA championship on and if it came in it would mean grief-for the pro golfers and worse for us lot! as not getting home midday for a sleep (split shifts) but it stayed away, 7 years living in Dunbar i also learned it always is not `sunny dunny`
aparantly St Abbs gets the most Harr in the UK!,
enjoy that cider Al!, i`m enjoying mine out in the garden!

Alistair said...

Nicky - It was just a mini gloat - honest! lol,

CK - Aye, I'd forgotten that what's a minor inconvenience for some is more than that for others. {and split shifts are the Deil's work}

Big Swifty said...

From this distance Dunbar looks so fab to me, an idyllic place to live compared with overcrowded SE England, but now I know about the haar.... My pal who moved up to Stonehaven a few years ago is loving the local climate there, which seems very favourable. PS on a children's TV prog "Chuggington" there's a loco there called Dunbar - he has a Scottish accent, nice enough character, probably glad to be out of the mist!

Twisted Scottish Bastard said...

I miss the haar.
I remember when I was on a holiday to Stornaway, the sight if the haar rolling down to the sea was increadibly attractive.

Down her in NZ, they don't know the word, and they seem to think I'm talking about the hair, which leads to some odd conversations.

Alistair said...

Hullo Swifty - Chuggington is a programme that's passed me by - not having a wee yin about the place anyway - which is probably just as well cos I watch far too much daytime tv as it is. Dunbar seems a fine name for a wee train though. I've never thought of Dunbar as idyllic before but I suppose it is compared to places which are far too crowded. Certainly I was always glad to be out of South East England and back home away from the big populations. If we have anything idyllic up here it's the room we have.

TSB - I would never have considered it something that I would miss before but I probably would now you mention it. We spent two weeks in Switzerland last year with my wifes cousins' two young Kiwis and they constantly wanted to talk to me and try to copy the accent. They went home with a passing fair impersonation of Taggart's "There's been a murder!" which has been driving their Dad nuts ever since.

Morning's Minion said...

Fog is nasty by whatever name--especially if one is caught needing to drive through it. I remember an early morning needing to be at the local airport in Wyoming--impossible to tell where the side roads led off the main highway--a strange uneasy blundering about in darkness over-laid with swirling grey layers of mist.

DB Stewart said...

Haar. I had to research that one. In Canada the only similar thing we might say is hoar frost which is a byproduct of humid winter air (and it has a beautiful painterly effect on the trees).
*grumbles* Speaking of winter, it snowed here today for about ten minutes.

Alistair said...

MM - Horrible to drive in I agree.

dbs - As you've said before we Scots have our own word for almost every occasion....

Scottish Nature Boy said...

Haar haar haar - we tend not to have it up here in Stirling, being inland at the head of the Forth estuary, tho' it has appeared a couple of times in my 20 years here (which was a shock each time!). But I do remember one school summer holiday in East Lothian where we had a haar for at least a month of the six week holiday. Slightly trying... cheers Al, SNB

Alistair said...

Slightly trying SNB? It would have driven me bonkers at that age. I would have been off on the bike and away looking for mischief in the sun.....

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