abruzzi spur

Took the 3 children in to the park today with the not very intrepid plan to "walk round the lake". The park was largely empty of people but full of winter sights that stopped you in your tracks. Proper old style hoar frost that you could flick off the branches and watch spin and dance, ancient oaks and chestnuts standing solid against cold that they must have thought had long gone, and waterbirds here for the easy mild ride, no doubt looking for a refund. The lake was mostly like concrete that had nearly gone off, covered in unfeasibly large and increasingly heavy testers chucked out by the locals, all of which sat on the ice challenging the senders to go and get them. My children I guess could have walked right across but being a responsible chap I took the view that if the ice creaked under my 14 stone their combined 8 could be a worry. We still managed some decent sliding where it normally runs deeper. On top of our recent experience in West Wales where sea cliffs hung with icicles, and beaches mixed sand with ice and you could run you fingers over rock covered with verglas, this winter still feels pretty old fashioned. Interesting that everyone out and about today appeared to be there because they loved the scene, the cold, the feel and, mostly, the fun of it all. AS

Here's a sight to behold - a short video from the Scottish Avalanche Information Service website (Southern Cairngorms blog page) showing conditions on Friday 11th Jan. Enjoy!

It's not a carol but it's a paen to 70s forecasters and the boy that grew up fascinated by them and the cold spells of childhood: Sensible check and thick rimmed specs And 30 seconds to live And tell the world (at least our part) Of what the days may bring To ease the fears of eldery dears Or seed the fields of dreamers? To stop the slide of magnetic signs Or talk to the believers? To place the blue upon the map An ice pick through the heart To send to death the tended shrub By gentlest remark A small boy sits agog at the box As horizontal lines Stretch from the East across our world And out beyond for miles And Dad puts bits of paper in the window gaps at night Whilst frost inside the windows grows cold and swirled and wide The man from the ministry is on again It's set for days he says The small boy shivers and then he smiles Everything for the best.

time for something in a minor key I feel: God rest ye merry gentlemen Let nothing you dismay For GFS our saviour Has shown us Christmas Day To save us all from Satan's power (To take the snow away) O timings are not entirely sure Entirely sure O, timings are not entirely sure Slightly off topic but still on a musical theme, I am assuming that in Telford it doesn't rain men, rather it sleets them.... AS

Coast has, in my respectful submission, raised the bar to dizzying heights. It scans perfectly and captures the raucous melancholy of the original. At the risk of sounding like a cliched reviewer of a west end play, a triumph! And it still hurts to see the words "Kirsty McColl" and "late" in the same sentence...... AS

And there I was about to dust off my textbooks on copyright infringement......! Anyway, you had the vision and rigour to do the other three whereas I got all excited after verse one and posted it immediately in a clear case of premature interjection. AS

Here's one: Oh little town of Abingdon How still we see thee lie Above thy deep yet snowless sleep The storm clouds pass you by Yet in thy dark streets shineth The orange hued street light At which you gaze for all your days In hope for falls of white. There is also scope for something along the lines of In The Bleak Mi(l)d Winter. And as for The Bore's Head Carol, well, too dangerous don't you think?!

2.5cm of lying snow in Reigate (110m). No doubt more on the top of the Downs at about 210m. Was still snowing lightly when I got up at 6am but stopped about 7:15. Probably will have melted away by mid morning but a very pretty scene here. AS

"B'ah 'T Lett" - infuential European high pressure system casting its influence as far as Yorkshire and leading to famous folk song sung in disconcertingly mild weather "on Ilkey Moor B'ah 'T Lett" "Icy Bras" - invisible lines (espec during adolescence) linking addresses of girls reluctant to remove underwear "Deep Depression" - direct result of follwing an Icy Bra "Front" - ahem "Beau Fort" - attractive (but breezy) castle