Dastardly Doris

Doris, an ordinary, rather dumpy name to choose for a storm, but Doris turned out to be demonically dangerous and damaging.  The photo above, showing snow on the Pentland Hills, is as close as we got to Storm Doris, thank goodness.  A bit of a damp squib, here, in the end.  And this morning dawned clear and sunny so I had a little jaunt to North Berwick.  I caught the bus and enjoyed the trip, along the coast and through the pretty villages of Aberlady and Dirleton.  From the bus's high-up vantage point I could see over walls and into woods and gardens, where the snowdrops are abundant, and fields with dozens of curlew, poking about for worms with their lovely long curved beaks.  

The parkland areas of North Berwick are looking springlike too.  Crocuses, and even a few unseasonably early, slightly moth-eaten primroses, braving a north facing slope.

I did a little food shopping and then walked back into the town centre, via Melbourne Road, where we stayed for a couple of months last autumn, and in the distance the deck of the Seabird Centre beckoned.  It was bathed in sunshine, and the waves were rolling in, so how could I resist!  They have a good little cafe there.

After I demolished a fruit scone and mug of hot chocolate, I walked on past my favourite washing line (snow on the hills of Fife in the distance), bought a good granary loaf for weekend breakfasts, and caught the bus home.  It couldn't have been a better outing.