Hoary Day

Heads Lane Hessle, East Yorkshire 3.40 pm today, 20 December 2010. Typical of the hoar frost across the county today

Everybody is talking about the weather and although there are other things in the news, why not - it's an extraordinary event in most of our lives. Serious news stories sometimes don't touch us directly and we may take fleeting notice and move on, but no matter who you are, the extreme cold weather affects our ability to get out of the house, get to work, get to the shops, keep warm, and all the costs both monetary and personal that comes with it.

The temperature in East Yorkshire today has not risen above minus 5 degrees Celsius where I've been and there is the most beautiful hoar frost around and although I tried to capture it and the lovely full moon that's rising, I haven't done it justice. In fact on the way home today there was a magnificent sunset, so I thought I'd get myself to the Humber Bridge to get a view across the river, but when I got there - the fog had come down and I couldn't see a thing.

I don't remember much about 1963 and the bad weather we had; I remember still having a pile of snow that was once a snowman in the back garden still there in May. Someone wrote in the paper today 'It's nice for a couple of days - looks great - but I'm fed up with it now!' I'm not sure I echo those sentiments exactly albeit people would say that it's selfish to be enjoying it while so many are suffering.

Humber Bridge and the Humber Lifeboat Station shrouded in freezing fog, 3.30 pm today, 20th December 2010.

I guess the one thing I will remember about the winter thus far and that's the number of people who have lost their guttering to tons of snow on their roofs. The old wooden guttering of yesteryear (that I remember my dad tarring out each summer to stop them from rotting) would have coped better than the plastic ones we have today.

We can complain about the councils, the footpaths, the trains, the motorways, the car parks but at the end of the day why don't we just face up to the fact that we don't cope with bad weather and just be more relaxed about it - our pace of life is so fast these days that we have to be there yesterday. Let's face it, until the Government realise that the economy is being damaged to the tune of billions of pounds, only then they'll decide not to decimate this particular public service and spend some money on additional grit and lorries and some of these small machines for footpaths but more important, the staff to use them!

So wrap up warm... stay in and enjoy some home entertainment and if you are lucky, some company.

Not a very good picture, I couldn't get it sharp enough hand held, but the large, orange full moon rising about 4.00 pm today 20th December 2010.

Why is Christmas Day like a day at the office? Because you do all the work and the fat guy in the suit gets all the credit.

Chat soon

Ta-ra