A patch of blue

After nine straight days of rain, the sun shone briefly again yesterday before returning to the grey skies of today. Washing machines all over the city were, no doubt, getting a good workout while dryers could be happily ignored again.

Not complaining, as April is our wettest month and, as my mother would say, rain's good for the garden. But, like the scene in the Jane Campion film Bright Star shows, there's cinematic beauty in linen drying in the sun. And the smell and feel of line-dried washing is one of those small domestic pleasures that costs nothing. With or without a field.