It's finally stopped raining

I was greeted by this beautiful sky this morning when I opened the curtains, and just had to take a picture (can you count the crows?). After living in Manchester for seven years I tend not to complain about rainy weather so often (it's nicknamed "The Rainy City" for a reason). However, it's been raining almost non-stop since last Friday night, when huge thunderstorms and quite insane amounts of rain (think tropical deluge) hit Tokyo and followed me all the way to Kyoto, where it remained until around 5pm on Sunday. 

Constant rain doesn't make for a good city-break, but we tried our best to get around and see some sights in Kyoto over the weekend. I'll publish the photos throughout the week.

Winter Sun

Winter Sun │ NEX-C3 & SEL 16mm  F2.8 │ 16mm, ISO 200, f/22, 1/100

I write this from inside the warm comfort of our apartment, as outside the weather is a miserable 7°C and drizzling. I took the above photo during the week, when the weather was much more typical of the dry winter here in Japan. The trees are now almost bear, and it's hard to believe the temperature was 39°C just a few months ago. The sky in Tokyo over winter is usually a completely clear, deep blue. It's also extremely dry - we've actually bought a humidifier for the apartment. In the UK, one never needs a humidifier due to the persistent moisture in the air.

Typically, the weather should return to sunny, but chilly, dry conditions on Monday. Just in time for me to spend all day in an office...