As I sat outside a street cafe at lunchtime I mused on the fact that this is the first time since Christmas Day I have ventured out for an alfresco lunch. Of late, incessant rain and wind have curtailed all thoughts of fresh air over the noon yardarm, but today with the clouds parted and the sun shining I partook of street cafe culture and downed a Fenteman's Victorian Lemonade. I love lemonade, quite possibly a throwback to my grandfather who was tee-total almost all of his life but liked a glass of ice-cream and lemonade from his friend Joe Frankie, who ran Frankies Italian Ice-Cream Parlour in South Shields. My father too loves this cocktail on a hot summer's day, whereas I prefer to eject the frozen cows milk and just luxuriate in the zest of a lemon sizzle.
If I'd done this four hours earlier mind you I'd have been moist in the extreme. I parked up after driving into work enjoying the sunrise, stepped out of the car and a Biblical deluge hurled itself out of the sky for 5 minutes. Taking shelter in the porch way of Clifton's Cathedral I watch this water spout erupt as if God himself had turned on the Holy Water tap. Dry to deluge to dry in 5 minutes. Blink and you'd miss it.
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