Snow, a week before Easter

The flight from Atlanta to Heathrow was uneventful and I arrived not too jet-lagged.  At the moment, there's only a 4-hour time difference between US Eastern time and UK time, because the US has started Daylight Saving Time and the UK has not yet started Summer Time.

When I arrived, the temperature was about 45F/8C, with lots of wind.  Heathrow was apparently a warm spot, because the temperature dropped to 39F/4C by the time we reached Ham.  I joked that at least it wasn't snowing; after all, it's almost Easter.

We woke up to this on Saturday morning:

Yes, it had snowed overnight, and was continuing to do so.  I don't think we'll be eating dinner out in the garden this evening.

Snow or no snow, we drove over to the next village, Shalbourne, where Ros set up a table in the village "table top sale".  Sort of a community garage sale, indoors in the village hall.

The building apparently dates from 1907.  The framed photo of the queen is more recent, but still from decades ago.

Sellers at the table top sale were still setting up.

Tony and I left Ros to her selling, and went over to the church in Ham, where a work day had been scheduled to get things cleaned up for Easter.  There's a signpost in Ham giving directions to All Saints Ancient Church, and it really is ancient.  The oldest part of the building dates from the 13th century; the earliest recorded Rector of the church held that position in 1302.

There were to have been two work projects, one to clean up the church grounds and one to clean the inside of the building.  The snow stopped the outside work, and everyone concentrated on the inside cleaning.

This gentleman was practicing the organ, playing several hymns from music.  He ended by playing the Bach Toccata and Fugue in D Minor from memory.  That piece taxed the little organ with its half-dozen stops, but it still sounded very good.

The view from the loft, where the organ is: church members hard at work.

The church tower's four bells can be rung by just pulling on these ropes.  No need for a group of people standing around in the room below the bells, pulling on bell ropes -- one person can do it, and does.  Note the "changes" listed on the blue paper.

There's a grave under the church's main aisle; these are common in old churches.  It's difficult to read the name of the person on the brass strip, but the date is clearly 1590.

I took some pictures in the snow-covered church yard, and in the center of Ham village.

Back to Shalbourne village hall to pick up Ros as the table top sale ended.  The creamer in the shape of a cow is a popular item here and in the US.

We had a very tasty lunch in the pub across the street.  Snow's about melted now, as it's been above freezing for some hours.

All in all, a very nice day, if a bit on the chilly and snowy side.