Krasnoyarsk Yenesei

Hi guys. Could one of you technical wizards explain to me what the trackback in on the blog section, and how it works. Cheers KY

It appears to me that small children are very much like spiders - they can get through the tiniest of holes when it seems impossible. Our living room does not look like a living room these days, but some kind of war zone. As I write, I am currently barricaded into the corner near the window, surrounded by chair, table and stool . The purpose of all this you ask? The whole design has been put together to stop Kaitlyn from getting her hands on the coals on the gas fire. A few days ago, I came downstairs to discover a trail of black soot across the floor. As I looked further, Kaitlyn's dress was black, so were her hands and so was her mouth. It didn't take a genious to work out what had happened. On a positive note, the coal was wonderfully clean. Despite the barricades being erected however, Kaitlyn somehow seems to be able to barge her way through, causing me to get up every few minutes and deport her back to the enormous space in the rest of the room that has been allocated to her for crawling duties. Her other favourite thing is to pull up the carpet edges. When she arrived they were not brilliant, but now they have been positively ripped to shreds. I stayed on here until quite late last night, to see how the snow would develop. Reports confirmed it snowing in Sheffield and Doncaster, but here in lowly Rotherham West we got nothing more than sleet. I had not expected much, but at least a little snow shower would have been nice. Fortunately, I have heard word that the invitations we need for our Russian visas are ready, and are now being sent. Anyway, here is a picture of my little darling shortly after birth:

Roo Not spoken to you in some considerable time. Sorry to hear about all the problems that have been occurring with the family. It can be so difficult at times, with that kind of stuff happening. I love all the pictures of the little one. I have my own little 9mth old, so pics such as the one with carrot all over the face are familiar territory. Keep strong. Keep going for it. Krasnoyarsk Yenesei - though you may remember me as African Protea.

I have long been intending to send some written articles into some soccer magazines discussing the way the Premiership is portrayed. Sky Sports still makes out that the Premiership is the most fantastic and exciting league in the world. However, as we approach February it becomes apparent that those who predicted the top 4 back in August as Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal are 100% correct. For the other teams this begs the question, "Why bother?" I am a Sheffield United fan as I intimated in the last entry, but that really has nothing to do with my views on the upper echelons of the Premiership. In England, all sense of competition has been lost, and the consequence of this is that interest in the game is slowly diminishing. That is why clubs such as Villa, Middlesbrough and Wigan have had such trouble filling the grounds. They are being asked to pay asburdly high prices when the basic outcome of the league is already known before a ball is even kicked. This being the case, who cares which of the big 4 wins the league. Guys on the 606 website often ask the question to fans of other clubs, "Chelsea or Manchester United?" My answer is neither. What we need is a league where 7 or 8 teams feel they have a chance before the start of the season. Therefore the Premiership is not wide open andhasn't been all season. Fortunately, the cricket world cup is just round the corner. If only South Africa had a top 3 that could bat, we would be racing certainties to win it. As it is, Australia are the most likely.

So this is what a blog is! I cannot honestly believe that I am writing a blog, but the fact that you are reading this is even more incredible. Surely you have something better to do! It has been a mild January. The grass is probably growing by now, a positively riveting event in comparison to the moronic droning to be found on these pages. Having said that, this will probably be the one and only entry, so there is not too much to wade through. Today's date is the 22 January 2007. I have a trip to Russia planned for 17 February, and there is only one small snag. No invitation letters have arrived, therefore no visas, no plane flights booked. Actually nothing has happened at all, apart from the fact that I bought some warm clothing from a store outside the incredible BDTBL - Bramall Lane, Sheffield if you are uneducated!! The Russia deal is quite a story really, because all my contacts there are South African. I used people in South Africa to get the contacts in Russia as I want to go and see the nation and experience a proper winter. It has been a great release during the depressing days of Atlantic gloom this winter, because whilst most on this site are craving a drop of snow in their quarters at some stage during this intense cold spell - it could even get beneath freezing tonight, wow!! - I don't care. In Samara the 5 day forecast has been predicting snow on at least 3 out of 5 days for the last month and a half. When I used to write letters, people used to say I was extremely funny. However, this is not the case here. I have lost my touch. Still my 9mth old daughter has been the subject of some mirth today, after being told by the health inspector that she has assymetrical fat. I thought about telling the health inspector that she also had assymetrical fat, but I am not sure that she would have taken it as well as Kaitlyn did. She bounced up and down and proclaimed, "Ha...ha" Must try and do some more Russian study this evening. I would perhaps be more inspired if the word for hello did not contain 11 letters. Please is not much better either. Still, I could always do the English thing and expect everybody to communicate in the international language. What an excuse for laziness. Anyway, that is enough for now. The contents of this blog have been sufficiently dire to ensure that you will never return here. However, thank you for visiting and have a Merry Christmas. Soon be here you know. Time goes so quickly these days. Here is a nice sunset in the Namib desert.

Hi Delta76. I was high up on the east side of Rotherham at 18:30 too. There may have been snowflakes but this has essentially been a seriously heavy sleet shower. A little bit started forming on the car, but it was always extremely wet at best. Hopefully better to come later in the week. Still, I enjoyed the sleet as it is still the best we have had so far this winter.

Confirmation of the torrential rain in Rotherham. It was fantastic, though still not quite up to South African levels. Plenty of lightening and loud thunder and yet the humidity still lingers.

South Yorkshire has finally joined the party. Snow started falling around 5pm and has settled on the grass. Not much yet but the skies are dark and much promise is in evidence.

Sleet showers this morning. Temp currently 2.6C.

Had a sleet shower in Rotherham at 9am this morning. The emphasis of this sleet was rain with temperatures at 35.2F and pressure declining. Pretty much as expected, to be honest.

Very heavy snow shower for 20 mins in Rotherham. Settled on everything after about 1min - 1cm accumulation with frost layer underneath. Temperature -0.2C. Cloud cover and radar suggest much more to come. Driving conditions treacherous and already seen one guy fly across a main road after skidding down a hill. drive carefully in this area tonight.

Mistral, what have you got in your part of Rotherham? We have black clouds and snow potential in the SW, but only a few half hearted flurries. Then again, I am in the valley heading towards Sheffield. Looks to me like there is no depth to the cloud therefore limited precipitation.

Moderate snowfall started 5 mins ago in Rotherham - settling on already whitened roads...

Light covering of snow in Rotherham at 6.22am. Settled on everything. Conditions currently dry but overcast with heavy clouds starting to form on the horizon.

I believe your numbers refer to the temperatures at your 18,000 feet mark. The temperatures vary at different levels in the atmosphere, as you may have noticed if you have ever tracked this on the screens of a plane during take off. In order to get snow, the temperatures at the 850mb need to be -6 minimum. From what I have discovered on this site, I believe this to be correct information. If not, a visiting expert will surely put us right.

The best snow that I have seen in November was an 8 inch covering in Sheffield (near where DL is) on the 19th of the month in 1996. This was in the same year that another 8 inches fell on New Year's Eve, sadly the last time that I would say we had a proper old fashioned winter event. Snow has fallen since then, but in much smaller quantities and with the added frustration that it melts almost as its falling.

Dull, overcast and light rain. The rain was heavy until approximately 5mins ago. Autumn has definitely arrived in Rotherham.

Cold and wet in Rotherham too. Mist the heaviest so far this month, and though there is only light drizzle at the moment, there was a serious amount of rain throughout yesterday and it hasn't really stopped since.