I'm Back!

My son gently and tactfully reminded me that I hadn't written a blog for sometime by pointing out the number of posts were falling. An old friend Bryan once quoted on his blog a Mark Twain witticism: "I you have nothing to say, say nothing." I guess I have plenty to say, the issue is, would it be of interest to anyone else! Then - everything happens at once!

Great blogger and writer Paula Readman has had a short story published on a site called CafeLit titled  'Cold Calling' - it's a stunning short -  read it and be chilled!!!Read her blog here.

I was at a friends last night having returned in thick falling snow from the cinema in Hull from seeing Les Miserables. I hadn't been particularly interested in seeing the film because the trailers showed it to be - well - miserable: revolutionary, dark, wet, people crying and dying in poverty, something wonderful to lift the spirit!

In fact this was a super cinematic production of popular theatre culture. I knew nothing of the story and had never been to see the stage production but the film was an absolute delight with all the emotions coming into play at one time or another. The ensemble cast were excellent and the singing was great, even from Russell Crowe (of whom one critic said, he couldn't sing.) If Hugh Jackman as the lead Jean Valjean  doesn't win award after award for his performance, I would be very surprised and disappointed.

The singing was done 'live' on film rather than being dubbed, I don't know what the technical term for this is but it's a rare technique in musical film and the resulting emotions the actors gave to their parts whilst singing was very moving indeed.  Rated at 12A, thoroughly recommended.

There was one spoiler and that wasn't on the screen, it was two young women sat behind us a few rows back who were talking and giggling throughout the film. Anger got the best of me at the end as the closing credits began to roll and people were getting ready to go, I stood up, looked directly at them and in a voice loud enough for several rows to hear I told them what I thought of them (no swearing - remain dignified at all times) and perhaps the cartoon in the next cinema would be more suitable for them. Needless to say they hurriedly exited heads down before everyone else. Fortunately, I had several murmurings of support.

Leaving my friends house around two a.m. this morning, a fox slowly trotted by along the footpath in the thick snow as I exited the door. Nothing unusual in that you may think and I've seen many foxes in that area, but it almost immediately sat down in the middle of the footpath and curled up. I had my trusty point and shoot Lumix and took a few pictures of it. It allowed me to get within ten feet of it before sauntering off a few yards and curling up once more. I saw lots of other foxes on my way home foraging for food and I think this one I saw close to had probably been breeding and was too tired to run off!

I have no cliche photographs of the snow - decided not to take any unless I saw something unusual. We've had our first major dollop of snow as mentioned above and today, most of it is still around although it's wet. The main danger comes from ice and freezing that goes with it. The next lot is forecast for Sunday night, just in time for the commute to work on Monday morning, hey ho.

Chat soon

Ta-ra

Chill Out and Slow Down

I guess pictures of snow and tales of how it affects us will be plentiful on the Internet - well this is no different!

Our first substantial snow fall for the winter came overnight last night (Saturday into Sunday) and we had about 4 inches (10cm) give or take a cat's whisker. 

I was clearing the driveway with a new snow shovel that we bought a few months ago in the expectation of yet another bad winter and today, it had it's first outing. Lovely neighbours came over and said hello as they headed out for a walk and they had just returned from Spain yesterday, not quite sure which part, but they said the snow was all about them on the hills and mountains and the temperature was minus 1 degree Celsius as they walked along the sea shore in a bitterly cold wind.

Their parting shot as I was leaning on my snow shovel was that they had had an acquaintance a while back who was clearing snow from the drive and he had a heart attack. Just want I wanted to hear! Cheers. I felt like a sit down after that.

Indeed many people have lost their lives after severe and unexpected snow fall in central and eastern Europe with the BBC reporting a loss of over 200 lives. Canals in Venice have begun to freeze over and a town in the Netherlands has had its coldest night for 27 years. Even the sea in southern England had begun to freeze on the shoreline.

And yet we mostly like the snow whilst looking at it through the window. I have a certain attraction to it and I'm not sure why, probably from my childhood when I would spend hours in the snow and not think anything of it until my fingers hurt with the cold through holding onto too many snowballs or building snowmen. But it does cause hardship and disruption; I just wish we were all chilled enough in this country (excuse the pun) to sit back, let life slow down and enjoy it rather than forcing ourselves to travel, to go to work or to the shops or just out for a jolly.

The picture above was taken this morning of my Yew tree and what an unusual shape the snow had moulded the branches into, I've never seen it shaped like that before.

Wrap up warm!

Chat soon

Ta-ra

Junction Boxes

 

Apart from the television ("you can't touch the television - there's programmes recording") the lounge is empty and a lonely bin and side table remain as we wait for the new carpet to arrive in the morning. I'll be sorry to see the old one go, it has done sterling service and deserves better retirement than the tip, but the council are collecting it tomorrow, for a fee of course.

The bare boards are not good enough for sanding and varnishing so we had no choice really and I wasn't keen on laminate flooring although I admit, generally it looks quite good and is cheaper.

The fish have a temporary new home in our 'back room,' and the budgies will have to sleep in my computer room for the night until the carpet is down. The cats are just not sure. Curiosity was the order of the day while we were moving the furniture, but now they are fast asleep. I wish I was.

Now please, someone tell me I am imagining things.  I don't take drugs, drink rarely but I think I must have been hallucinating when several different people told me that they had heard a news item on the radio saying we were going to have snow in October. This is not funny. I know snow of a decent quality came very early last year in November, but October? The sun tan lotion has hardly dried off! 

I hope you celebrated 'International Talk Like a Pirate Day' yesterday? Of course you did!

I hope you've had a great week so far, I am hoping to pick up a few bob on the roll-over lotto tonight.

Chat soon

Ta-ra.

Icy Times, Christmas Card Dilemma, Sainsburys Service

The cat - chasing the cursor, also making it difficult to type at the same time.

Those of you from outside the UK must be having a giggle at us and the way we cope with (or don't cope with) the snow. Day time temperatures today didn't rise above minus 5 degrees Celsius where I was and the car clock this morning at 7 am said 'minus 9.' Several weather records have been broken this last week.

The main urban roads here are passable with care and the minor estate roads are hopelessly dangerous. The local authorities never get round to the side roads because they have other priorities, i.e., strategic routes and bus routes. If you think it's bad now in the UK and think the councils have been poor (I think they've worked very hard), it's going to be even worse as councils prepare for up to a 25% cut in expenditure for the next four years.

We even had mail delivered on Sunday (5th December!) That's because our postie had fallen behind with his work have fallen (literally) several times and hurt his back, he decided to come out on Sunday morning to catch up - off his own bat. Well done him!

This wonderful Government will slash spending on clearing our roads, our public servants that operate the gritters will be reduced along with everyone else, there will be fewer nurses and doctors to mend the broken bones, fewer ambulances to take you to hospital in a timely way so if you think it will get any better after all the 'constructive criticism' our wonderful public give the public sector - blimey, you ain't seen nothing yet!

Tonight is my first attempt to start writing my Christmas cards, well to be accurate, at least printing out some fancy address labels. I have wondered whether or not I should put a note inside the cards to say that I'll donate the £60 it costs me in cards and stamps every year to a charity next year. I haven't decided yet. I've given myself three or four days to make my mind up. The dilemma I guess is that I like to receive cards from friends and relatives. I find it comforting that you are thought of, if only for a few seconds a year while they write the card.

It's my dad's 74th birthday tomorrow and I have committed sacrilege. I was in Sainsburys tonight and bought him a bottle of Scotch. As I was paying for my lottery tickets on my way out I dropped the bag with the Scotch in and it smashed on the floor. OMG. The smell of spirits pervaded the kiosk area and a golden liquid started spreading across the floor. I was hugely embarrassed. But not as embarrassed as I was surprised when I realised that they were going to replace the smashed bottle and the two boxes of chocolates that I had consequently ruined in the same bag - no charge! Well done Sainsburys!

To a valued colleague and wonderful person 'J,' an old friend who is having treatment for an illness right now - thinking of you and your family too - best wishes and positive thoughts coming your way.

Hope you all have a safe, warm and successful week!

Chat soon

Ta-ra.

Batten the Hatches

I've decided to batten down the hatches and take cover this weekend. I've managed to get through shitty roads every day, cope with idiots who don't know how to drive in the snow (or don't care) and not have to dig myself out (just) of anywhere.

We don't need to venture abroad to the shops or look after relatives who are all nicely catered for. So perhaps apart from some drive clearing in the morning after tonight's predicted snow, the warm fire and a couple of good books await my undivided attention.

The snow today however, ignoring the negatives, has been nothing short of spectacular with Christmas card scenes everywhere and the car clock on the way home at 3 pm today showed it to be minus 5 degrees Celsius.

Cars are still covered in more than a foot of snow and all the main urban roads despite gritting and snow ploughing have packed ice on surfaces.

If you have seven minutes to spare (what else have you got to do this weekend?) enjoy this brilliant piece of film about the old fashioned way of getting trains through adverse weather conditions, from 1963. Remember British Rail?



As promised I thought I'd post a picture of my two older kids and their cousin from next door, who, with a little help from brother in law next door, build a six foot igloo in the back garden yesterday afternoon.

 
It dawned on me that way back in 1988, 22 years ago, another igloo was built in the garden of my former home and although I can't find it, I have a picture of my older son playing in it. Nothing changes - they're all big daft kids - thank goodness!
 

Keep warm and safe this weekend and enjoy the views outside (preferably from your living room).

Chat soon

Ta-ra.

'Snow Joke

How boring can this be, but the weather dominates our lives here in the UK at the moment. We're just not used to dealing with extremes of weather.

I spotted the lead picture first thing this morning (10.00 hours) out of my office window. There had been a brief thaw and the snow had started to move off the roof before refreezing. As a consequence, the icicles had moved inward making an interesting spectacle - horizontal icicles!

People are digging their cars and themselves away from their drives, car parks, kerb sides, interchanges and anywhere else cars can get stuck. It's great to see people walking. I saw a bus this afternoon pull into a bus stop to drop off and when I passed again ten minutes later, the driver and passengers were digging it out. Instead of staying on the road which was clear and stopping, the driver pulled into a foot of snow at the kerbside adjacent to the bus stop and got stuck!

The second shot was of the River Humber about 12.45 hours today (Thursday). You may see a similarity with my blog opening title photograph; it was taken from exactly the same place on St Andrew's Quay in Hull.

My goodness these birds are tough. Most of them live on chips thrown to them by customers from the local fast food outlet (I'm loving it!) who park up here to get the often spectacular views across the Humber.

My two older sons, their cousin from next door and my brother in law are building an igloo in my back garden! I'll post the picture when they've finished.

I do hope you are staying warm and safe.

Chat soon

Ta-ra

Keep Safe and Warm

Hello from a wintry, cold, white North Eastern England in the UK. This is the first time in their lives our young cats have experienced the snow. Curious, they dashed straight into it without thinking of course and sank up to their bellies which was a bit of a shock. Jill wasn't too fussed and found high ground on the back of the garden seat which had no snow. Jack however was a little more adventurous leaping from footprint to footprint that I had left.

Within a few minutes Jill had had enough and came in to watch procedings from the warmth of the house. Jack however thoroughly enjoyed the experience and stayed out for ages. Needless to say, they both spend the next hour asleep curled up in front of the fire!

Above is the view from my office window at daybreak this morning.

I kept my eye on the forecast as I always do but with extra interest. I've got up an hour and a half earlier than I normally do for the last three days (for me that's a big deal - I hate getting out of bed too early) and set off for work early hoping to get there for 7 am before the rush hour. The roads had been cleared and gritted and no-one else has been venturing out much at that time so I got to work really early and was equally home early too!

Lots of good people turned out for work - many walked (in some cases about four miles) others sat on buses for two hours, queued at bus stops, sat in rush hour traffic jams to get to work. Well done them for committment and dedication. A selected handful perhaps open the curtains, see the white stuff and roll over back to sleep. For goodness sake, at least people should make the effort and if they can't get off the drive, or off the estate, then that's fine, but at least try. The world goes on despite the snow.

My son drove from East Yorkshire to York to work as he does everyday and it took him three hours and today was the worst trip - he doesn't know how he got there, however others, including those who live in York didn't turn up! Makes me angry and I hope that at least they made the effort!

The garden looks the tidiest it's ever looked, mainly because all I can see is white - suits me - no leaves to pick up. Today the wind has arrived with a vengence so not only is it drifting out there, it's now colder than it's been all week with snow falling almost horizontally.

The late Sammy Cahn penned the lyrics:

Oh the weather outside is frightful,
But the fire is so delightful,
And since we've no place to go,
Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

True bloody true!

Keep warm and safe

Chat soon

Ta-ra!

Scenes from Horseback

I had a brief sojourn into the old town of Hull this morning to meet an old friend who showed me round an old building which goes back to 1698. I am going to lead a paranormal investigation there in January and it gave me a chance to have a look round to get my bearings and soak in a bit of the atmosphere. It promises to be a good one. The picture above shows the church this morning bathed in winter sunlight in the reflection of the bank windows on Market Place.

While there, I decided to have a short wander around, not dwelling too long because of the freezing weather - the only advantage of which was the fact that there was no-one around. I used to work in the old town centered by Holy Trinity Church in the mid to late 1970s and some of my ancestors were baptised and married in the magnificent church, originally built in 1285, just down the road from St Marys which featured on a blog a few weeks ago.

The statue of King William lll sits, unceremoniously in some ways, next to a public toilet in Market Place, just a few yards from Holy Trinity. This is a remarkable statue of a king who was relatively unloved and unmourned. Were it not for his missus, Mary, who was indeed loved at the time, he would be William the Obscure. The statue of him was erected in 1734, and apart from the war years, his gilded figure has remained there ever since, vigilant and proud. It is said that the sculptor committed suicide after realising, following his completion of the statue that he had not included any stirrups for the King's royal tootsies. The truth is that the Sculptor, Dutchman Peter Scheemaker died in 1781 at the grand old age of 90. The statue was probably designed that way to represent a 'classic' style of bareback horsemanship.

I haven't walked down Prince Street opposite Holy Trinity for 30 years plus and although there is a lot of restoration down there, the cobbled streets, the curved nature of the building line, the arched entrance and the old shuttered buildings takes you back centuries; I guess it hasn't changed massively - ghosts from yesteryear would recognise the scene.

 
On the way home, thankful for a warm car, the Humber Bridge presented a fascinating vista being half covered in a fog bank. Fog of course is no stranger to the Humber basin and with a still cold morning, there were attractive wisps of vapour all over the place as the water was considerably warmer than the air! The only problem was that the main A63, Clive Sullivan Way provides nowhere safe to stop and get a good photo.

From a bland chill morning with minus 5 on the car clock and no overnight snow, at the time of writing, an hours continual snow has now turned my village into a winter wonderland. This picture was taken at 12.35 today.

All the pictures were taken today - I love the immediacy of blogs.

Keep warm!

Chat soon

Ta-ra.

300 Not Out - Will Potter Survive?

Welcome to my 300th post.

Let no-one say that JK Rowling has no talent as a story teller. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 is the coming of age of Harry James Potter now aged 17 years at the beginning of the end. This much anticipated film (there are no spoilers here) panned by critics who frankly know nothing about what audiences want or like was a wake up call for those who think Potter is just a pink and fluffy children's fantasy dream. Nothing could be further from the truth.

I guess Harry Potter is a bit like Marmite, you hate it, you love it or frankly you don't care about it. There are shades of Lord of the Rings, where Ronald Weasley, played by Rupert Grint is given a light device in the will of Albus Dumbledore (his deceased headmaster) to show him the way in times of darkness. There are clear references to the rise of the Nazi empire in the way those destructive and dark forces are trying to seize control. The propaganda machine, brainwashing and subjugation of the citizenry by any means fair or foul - usually foul, the grey, dank stench of death in the air makes this film one to sit up and take notice.

This is a film about three children growing up in a changing world, changing toward something they passionately don't believe in and they are prepared to go the extra mile, make sacrifices, take difficult courageous decisions to fight for what they believe, and yet they are children, and this is what the critics don't understand. This is life from their point of view - young people growing up, not the authors and not the viewer.

We've been on a journey through the fairy tales, fantasy scenes of a gentler time, humour, fluffy magic, weird creatures, great characters to the dark realism of the need to survive. The classic good versus the evil and at the end of the film, we are left with the stark reality that the dark side is defintely ready to triumph; the wait for the conclusion is unbearable and therein lies the success of the transformation from book to film. The characters are now well known; we, as the audience can relate to them as they feel emotion at every level, experience personal loss, despair, love, a glimpse of hope in the gloom. Our favourite characters are at the final cross roads. Who will survive, who will succumb to the power of the dark lord.

There has been a transformation to the real world by quality acting from the young cast, Radcliffe, Grint and the excellent Emma Watson supported by stunningly talented actors and actresses. The sets and scenery are now almost monotone and sparse adding to the tone and despair; the special effects continue to be special; the evil one is becoming more powerful, the good - on their knees.

Who will triumph?

This is a quality film by Warner Bros, rated at 12A, a measure of the emotion generated by this excellent production. Highly recommended.

The weather on the other hand is a bleak as the film, minus 3 degrees Celsius on the way home at dusk, snow laying on the ground, the roads icy.

I hope my colleague and her partner managed to get to Pickering in North Yorkshire this weekend for a long weekend break in a log cabin with real fire and a hot tub which I hope they enjoy along with the bottle of Champagne they've taken with them.

Another colleague flies out to Spain to be with her parents for a week today or tomorrow from Manchester and although I guess she wont be sunbathing, it won't be minus 3 either!

I hope you've had a good weekend so far. Keep warm

Chat soon

Ta-ra

Snow Time to Prepare...

Is this what to expect in the morning (Thursday) - it is if you believe the BBC weather forecast?

Student riots (my son couldn't get into the Uni library today to study because they were occupying it), Comprehensive Spending Review, North Korea fires on South Korea and the talking point at work today? It's going to snow.

Let's get life into context. I'll have to get up early in the morning although I only live five miles from where I work because the roads are traditionally quite poor in bad weather. Generally, I don't do mornings much although I rarely sleep in because I think the day is wasted if I do. The car I have, a diesel, takes ages to warm up unlike my old version which was petrol and the screen on this one takes forever to clear. Since losing weight, the cold affects me more so it gets very uncomfortable sometimes when I'm clearing ice and frost.

A very good friend has bronchitis, another has his version of man flu and there are sniffles and sneezes all over my workplace. My son has a cough. Woe is me - how long before I submit to man flu? I've stopped feeding the fish in the ponds now, they can't digest food in cold weather and to feed them does more damage than good. The warmth of the living room this weekend is very attractive as opposed to my usual enthusiasm to get outside at every opportunity when the sun shines bright and warm.

I posted the following warning on Facebook a couple of nights ago...

WARNING, PLEASE READ. If someone comes to your front door and asks you to remove
your clothes and dance with your arms in the air, DO NOT do this, it is
a SCAM, they just want to see you naked. please copy and paste this to
your status, I wish I had received this yesterday, I feel stupid now :(

Enjoy the rest of the week and take care in the cold!

Chat soon

Ta-ra

TV News Showing the Obvious

The house drive in the glow of the mercury street lighting, about one minute time exposure photograph, around 7.15 pm today 8/1/10 and about four inches of snow in the road. Canon EOS 40D 18mm on tripod.

I commented on a fellow bloggers excellent blog today that I thought the snow was old news now and the TV news should be more helpful in giving advice about how to manage and cope and how to help others instead of reporting the usual driver struggling to get uphill or seeing a lorry jack-knifed across the main roads. Interesting but not helpful.

I always feel sorry for these reporters, sent to isolated villages and locations all over the country, stood in a foot of snow with red noses and kids making obscene gestures in the background in the freezing cold reporting on what we can all see out of our windows. Still, I've been in at work early every day this week, getting up early (I am NOT usually an early morning person) in anticipation of struggling to get to work. In fairness, despite a lot of criticism of the local authorities here in terms of gritting, the roads have been great at 7 am, clear with no laying snow.

Hessle Square, East Yorkshire, just after dropping the prescription off, around 3.30 pm today 8/1/10 and about half an hours worth of steady snow on the ground. Lumix DMC-TZ65, wide angle

Leaving early just as dusk arrives is good as well, except tonight I left work at 3 pm and a twelve minute journey took an hour and a half. I made the mistake of dropping a repeat prescription off at the quacks on the way and when I tried to get home the normal way which is uphill, a bus had skidded broadside across the road and was stuck. I managed to detour and that was a mistake too because it took me 25 minutes to get up the main Boothferry Road in Hessle (one of the main arterial roads out of the city of Hull to the west) , a distance of around 800 metres. The snow had laid fresh, been compacted by the traffic and turned into an ice rink - literally.

The funny thing, if it can be described as funny is that all these big expensive powerful rear wheel drive saloon cars, among them today a BMW, a Mercedes and a Rover couldn't make the slight incline and skidded all over the place. All the other little cars were doing great and fortunately, kind hearted good citizens walking past were helping these big cars to stay on the road and get them going by pushing... well done pedestrians. That was not an experience I enjoyed. My lad took nearly three hours to travel seven miles on the way home tonight.

A weekend in front of the fire, reading, drawing, exercising and playing with my grown up kids on the Wii is definitely on the cards, all going towards getting the New Year resolutions off to a positive start.
Heads Lane Hessle, East Yorkshire and the back of the house with cars crawling by on the packed ice. A time exposure photograph of around two minutes around 7.30 pm tonight, 8/1/10. Canon EOS 40D 18mm on tripod.

A friend told me today that his son had got a job at the bowling alley. "Ten-pin?" I asked. "No," he replied, "It's permanent."

Keep warm and safe and if you can do a neighbour or friend a good deed in this difficult time, give it a go.

Chat soon

Ta-ra

Brass Monkey Weather & Today's List

Sun rise 20 December 2009 by RLS

In keeping with this bright crisp day (at 10.30 whilst writing this) it's minus 5 degrees and last nights snow is crisp and hardened by a cracking frost. There isn't a cloud in the sky and the atmosphere is great. I got up early, before dawn, had breakfast, took some pictures, cleared the car, filled one of my fish ponds which was very low on water, made sure the other one had a hole in it for the fish to breathe, crashed my pc, restored it and made two cups of tea - and they say men can't multi task (well to be honest of course, I only did one job at a time - but it sounded as if I was busy.)

Well its list time, it's ages since I've done one so here it is on one of my favourite themes, men and women. It's absolutely non PC but I really don't care because I'm taking the mickey out of poor, emotionally devoid, misunderstood, vulnerable weaker sex - men!

I take no credit for this list, it's from an e-mail circulation and it's been edited slightly to save blushes but here goes.

Men Are Just Happier People Because

Your last name stays put;
The garage is all yours;
Wedding plans take care of themselves;
You can never be pregnant;
Car mechanics tell you the truth;
The world is your urinal;
You don't have to stop and think of which way to turn a nut on a bolt;
Same work, more pay Wrinkles and greying hair add character (certainly true in my case);
People never stare at your chest when you're talking to them;
New shoes don't cut, blister, or mangle your feet;
One mood all the time;
Phone conversations are over in 30 seconds flat;
You know stuff about tanks and engines;
A five-day holiday requires only one suitcase;
You can open all your own jars;
You get extra credit for the slightest act of thoughtfulness;
Your underwear is £9.50 for a three-pack and lasts ten years;
Three pairs of shoes are more than enough;
You never have strap problems in public;
You are unable to see wrinkles in your clothes;
Everything on your face stays its original colour;
The same hairstyle lasts for years, maybe decades;
You only have to shave your face and neck;
You can play with toys all your life;
One wallet and one pair of shoes - one colour for all seasons;
You can wear shorts no matter how your legs look;
You can 'do' your nails with a pen knife;
You have freedom of choice concerning growing a moustache;
You can do Christmas shopping for 24 relatives on 24th December in 24 minutes.

No wonder men are happier.

Snow 10.30 pm 19 December 2009 by RLS

Chat soon

Ta-ra

Weather for Keeping Wrapped-up

Welcome to a new 'follower' - Wheelie. His blog, http://applestrokes.blogspot.com/, is entitled 'Stroke Survivor' and it's good to read with appropriate dry humour befitting someone from God's Own Country - Yorkshire, albeit the south, but I don't hold that against him! You are very welcome sir!

The youngest is home for the festive break from Liverpool University - welcome home son and my wife says a particular welcome to his mountain of washing.

Diane Parkin in her blog talks about the snow and has a great method of detecting the seriousness/heaviness/snowiness of the fall they have had - she says she can see the grass [poking through] - spot on Diane - just a dusting then? The point is she quite rightly the country still comes to a grinding halt. I've debated this before and it's a jaded theme every time we get a hint of the white stuff so I'll leave it there.

I went on a works 'do' last night; a pleasant couple of hours in a bar, a lovely two hours in a very good Chinese Restaurant followed by another couple of hours in the bar. There was some excellent company including a surprise visit from fellow blogger Middle Aged Gapper; there was Caroline, Kirsty, Diana, Julie, Sheila, Lucy, then Alan, Alan S, John, Phill, Ian, Trevor, Bryan and brief but very welcome guest appearances from Nichola and Tracy.

Oh My Goodness - the diet - I was very restrained during the meal I have to say but there was a feast of delicate starters: some pork minced with vegetables curled in a Cos lettuce leaf which was lovely. I think there was duck in some delicate little pancakes and loads of seeded breads, spring rolls, skewered bits of chicken and seaweed. I'm sure there were other starters too. The main course was sweet and sour all sorts of meats , beef with black beans, lemon chicken, egg fried rice, noodles and probably some other stuff I never even got round to. All you could eat for £15 and it was good value. This is the first but won't be the last time I've been to a Chinese restaurant and had this type of help yourself menu with the food brought to your table and kept warm on candle fired heaters.

I have come to realise however that my hearing is definitely faulty in some way. The bar was absolutely full and the noise of talking and background disco music meant that I had real problems hearing what people were saying to me - even when sat close to me. My lip reading is improving but far from perfect; I just hope to God I was nodding and shaking my head in the right places.

I was only waiting outside for a few minutes waiting to be picked up by my other half and I was frozen stiff and that was with a woolly thermal hat, thermal gloves, quilted jacket and scarf. My nose was NUMB.

I intended to do all sorts today but once out of the Rise, whilst the major roads were okay today, traffic was backed up all over the place so I couldn't get to the garage of my choice to blow a tyre up. The second garage air pump was out of order so my third garage cost me a quid to use the airline because I had no change and there was a huge queue at the till. I didn't feel like queuing then saying to the suspicious assistant, "I haven't bought petrol, can I have change for the air pump?" I'm never quite sure if they believe you about the petrol when they begrudgingly give you change despite the inevitable comment, "We haven't a lot of change." Well it's their bloody pump and they are charging me for using my fresh air.

I gave up all thoughts of shopping and came home to the warmth.

Keep wrapped up.

Chat soon

Ta-ra

Snoring? Boring....

Like 99% of all human beings, I snore. I know I snore, I wake my self up with my snoring. Get to my age and add a couple of pounds to my fighting weight (did I say pounds?) and snoring becomes easier - I don't even have to practise (or is it practice?) I am frequently reminded by my other half that it took her ages to get to sleep because I was making such a racket. Very interesting dear but I can't do a lot about it. I have tried those nose clips that footballers used to wear to increase their oxygen intake but they don't work apparently. I have tried sleeping on my back, left side, right side, upside down in the cupboard and nothing works. I think it deflates her for me to acknowledge that I snore - here's a tip guys, admit it all, take a bollocking and move on. If anyone has tips for decreasing the decibels, answers on the comments please.

We are lucky that when I had a cold recently and my snoring, she said, was bad, while my lad is at university, she slept in his bed for a fortnight - bliss - two weeks of not having the blankets pinched or me listening to her snoring!

When I tell her she snores she denies it and fights back like two politicians over the dispatch box with an accusation that it does matter and had I ever heard myself snore like a passing train? No dear I am asleep, and so it goes on.

The snow has returned today with a vengeance and this time it's laid heavy with about 4 inches - very picturesque! I have discovered that a massive benefit of the bad weather is that the satellite can't receive a picture - hooray! So here we are, she's knitting and I am eating crisps and actually talking with a Rod Stewart double CD The Complete Great American Songbook playing softly in the background. I asked her if she wanted a cup of tea and as a joke I came back into the room with an empty cup and pretended to trip and pour it over her. She is not amused and as a consequence she is not talking to me! Hurry back Sky!

Looking forward to the weekend but I must wash the car, under the snow it is encrusted with road salt. But then the minute I take it on the road, it gets covered again! More time for me to sit and watch a bit of sport - if there's any on because of the snow or flooding. I can't take the opportunity to talk to her again at leisure during a few quiet moments this weekend, she's working - oh well.

No spelling mistakes today!

Chat soon

Ta-ra

The Delights and Dispair of Snow

Snow has been subject of much debate lately due to this extraordinarily long period of cold weather. Questions arise like “Why does the country come to a standstill with an inch of snow?” and “I can remember when I was a kid when winters were real winters…” Well I have no such experiences of long hard winters except perhaps one in the late seventies where the local bypass had snow piled up either side to several feet.

But I can remember in my childhood home rubbing beautiful and intricately patterned ice off the inside of the windows in a morning. You have to remember however that ‘in those days’ (showing age and maturity) we had single glazing and no form of heating in the bedrooms (showing good memory) and pyjamas and a dressing gown were a must if you didn’t want to freeze to death on the journey between the bedroom and equally cold bathroom. I can still remember a stoneware hot water bottle that my grandparents used to have for their bed in the tall three storey Victorian house I used to live in as a kid. Double glazing, central heating, smaller rooms, carpets and instant access to gas/electric fires have made us soft perhaps, hence why we probably suffer more colds and sniffles these days.

Let’s face it this country has always come to a standstill whenever there has been snow – when was it any different? Why do we moan about it – it happens in a winter – live with it! My concern I suppose is the economy and our jobs. More of us feel the need to take a risk and travel to work. Bosses should be more understanding (ha!) and good bosses (and there are some) should put contingency plans in place to allow workers to ‘work from home’. Clearly, extremes of weather allegedly caused by climate change will continue but it doesn’t necessarily mean temperatures are simply rising; as I understand it weather will be come more extreme which means harsher winters and hotter summers. I just need to buy more table salt for the drive in case the council run out - they've bought up all the gritting salt! I have some rock salt in the kitchen cupboard, it's better for my health but is it good for the environment?

The forecasters will tell you that long hard winters when it snowed for weeks and winters were permanently cold year after year is an urban myth like long hot summers every year – they never existed; statistically anyway. Simply put, the memory plays tricks because as kids we had the freedom to spend more time outside; thats it! But I do have this child-like fascination with snow – I love it, which I know is selfish because it does bring hardship to the vulnerable, but I can’t help it. I love being in and watching thunderstorms and seeing hard rain bouncing off roofs. But being fifty something does mean that for the first time, I feel the effect of the cold more. I was out just before Christmas in a particularly chilly wind gathering up the tons of leaves that seem to end up in my garden from the surrounding town’s trees when, after an hour outside I couldn’t feel my face at all and it took ages for the feeling to come back so I could get to the point where I could smile or articulate my words properly. And here’s the rub, I’m not fit enough to wade through feet of snow having fun or climbing up hillsides all day to go tobogganing.

So here I am – a spectator of the wintry weather, still affected by it through higher heating bills, longer journeys to work, more reluctance to walk, work, drive or play in it, but I still love the magic of the sight of thick laying snow.


BTW (text speak for 'by the way' - is that cool that I know that?) I only knew one blogger personally, Andy Comfort a senior broadcaster on BBC Radio Humberside. I met another today - Lisa and I look forward to reading her blogs about food - a favourite pastime of mine.

NO spelling mistakes today - wow.

Chat soon…

Ta ra!