Spring has really sprung — gloriously

The area is reborn with trees breaking into leaf, the bright yellows of forsythia, the opulent magnolia blooms (pictured) and a wealth of pure white cherry blossom. Yes, truly spring has sprung.

Of course it offers the trumpeting daffodils and the wonderful sight of mature weeping willows cascading leaf clusters of the most delicate shade of green. It’s a season that seems impossible to catch: one moment you are too early and yet within a few days it has turned into fulsome summer.

This is the time of year when Basildon looks good — scarce bettered by the subtle palette of golds, bronzes, purples, yellows and greens that Nature employs to paint the ageing leaves of Autumn. And what a Spring, albeit a few delightful days to atone for the dull, dreary, damp days of Winter.

So the temperatures will fall again and our hint of Summer warmth be but a hint: let’s get out in the fresh Spring air today at least. As the wind shifts eastward overnight, so too the temperatures will tumble back towards the average for the time of year.