Stormy Weather

[salymap]

Been cycling in it, S_A? Makes the eyes water heading east in the mornings, for me... but nice to get a push in the back going home of an evening. At least it's dry!!! And it's SO nice to get home and into the warm!

While your driver follows with the Rolls and all your baggage Caliban, rather like Beecham when he walked anywhere?

[marthe]

Groundhogs notwithstanding, It's a bit raw today. No sun just damp, cloudy weather. I'm not complaining because our latest gas bill (for heating) was quite reasonable. We'll have to see whether Punxsetawny Phil or P. Martel's Canadian groundhog has the correct answer for the next 6 weeks.

[Nick Armstrong]

While your driver follows with the Rolls and all your baggage Caliban, rather like Beecham when he walked anywhere?

In my dreams, saly, in my dreams!

Anna - that track is perfection

[jayne lee wilson]

Utterly stunned today to see a Rough-Legged Buzzard sweeping across the garden at house-height, suitably panicking the feeding residents! The garden birds had scarcely settled before the usual male Sparrowhawk hedge-hopped into orchard again, ending up empty-taloned on the lawn, poor thing. When it's this cold all the dispensers need filling almost every day, but I always forget and end up doing it in the dark before bedtime, sometimes meeting a wary fox or two along the way.

[salymap]

The cold seems to have an extra sting this morning although I left the heating on all night as usual. It was a mistake to restart my exercise regime that a physio gave me. Ouch

[eighthobstruction]

Saw a Red Kite yesterday over NW Leeds as I was helping a friend move. I believe they have a nesting/release regime near Harewood House....
Red Dawn today....
Easy away Salymap....as they say here abouts....steady as you go....

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

thin dusting of snow and very chill in the middle kingdom this morning.... bright blue sky is an ill omen for the day warming up ....

[Nick Armstrong]

The cold seems to have an extra sting this morning although I left the heating on all night as usual. It was a mistake to restart my exercise regime that a physio gave me. Ouch

Oddly enough the lack of wind meant that my cycle ride was more agreeable this morning. Some great music to ride through the parks to, as well: I switched on the radio in my 'phones as I entered Lancaster Gate, and 'Pohola's Daughter' started. Sibelius is ideal for a sunny winter bike ride - those pulsing rhythms, that whiff of nordic chill... My favourite on the bike is "Lemminkainen's Return" when cycling home - makes me feel very heroic!

Odd thing, though - even though temps have been below zero the past few nights, absolutely no sign of white frost anywhere on the grass in the park. Perhaps because it's such a dry cold?

[Anna]

Odd thing, though - even though temps have been below zero the past few nights, absolutely no sign of white frost anywhere on the grass in the park. Perhaps because it's such a dry cold?

Frost here, although not thick, yes it's a very dry cold. At 8.00am it was a very chilly -8.3 !! I think that's the coldest we have had all Winter, however we are still promised snow for tomorrow .... not a cloud in the sky and bright sunshine, not a breath of wind, frost not melting where sun hasn't hit it

[salymap]

Yes Caliban, it's a lovely day really. I used to enjoy walking about a mile to the railway station on a morning like this.

Embankment Gardens at lunch time, sitting with a friend, eating our snack. I still miss London and it's a great place to work.

[Lateralthinking1]

I don't miss London. I have just had a nice solitary walk across the downs to the town centre nearly two miles away. It was sunny and not very cold. Once I got past the local "village" shops and out of the mock tudor suburban streets, I passed one tractor driver felling trees, one man and two couples walking dogs and a runner. That was it until the urban and even that was quiet.

This was the first time that I had done the walk since I left work in September 2010. The woods are bare but on climbing to the top footpath there is a very good view of the hills and valleys. It felt like being on holiday and I thought of those in the office as a mixture of con artists and mugs. Feelings of ongoing resentment vied with a not wholly pleasant sneer. That would be "freedom".

Two reduced items bought in Waitrose and a return by the hoppa bus. The whole trip took just one hour and forty minutes and cost me less than a fiver. Not bad for the Greater London area. It would be difficult to find anything better inside the M25.

[gurnemanz]

I don't miss London.

I don't miss living there, but cannot imagine not having reasonably convenient access to it. I was born and grew up in the urban sprawl of the London Borough of Croydon but have lived for 30 years (now royally) in Wootton Bassett, N Wilts which is two miles from M4 J16. It's about 85 miles to central London and we do the trip often for concerts, theatre and exhibitions. Car is better and cheaper than train. You can park free off-peak in Waterloo and stroll over the bridge to the West End. It's quite possible to go to the opera and be back home in bed by midnight. Driving home, we don't feel we have "escaped" till the lights go out after Reading.

[french frank]

My impression of London is of always being scrutinised. They look at my footwear and think, round toes/square toes/pointed toes have been out of fashion for six months. That's a very strange sort of woolly hat you're wearing. That colour of jacket has never been fashionable. What part of rural Flintshire are you from, then? Do you speak English? ...

At home everyone looks strange and nobody cares ...

[Lateralthinking1]

This is roughly where I started this morning:



This was my view en route:



This was where I walked to:



And six miles up the road, it is this:

[vinteuil]

My impression of London is of always being scrutinised. They look at my footwear and think, round toes/square toes/pointed toes have been out of fashion for six months. That's a very strange sort of woolly hat you're wearing. That colour of jacket has never been fashionable. What part of rural Flintshire are you from, then? Do you speak English? ...

At home everyone looks strange and nobody cares ...

Now that is interesting - and totally contrary to my experience. I grew up in rural Wiltshire, and was very conscious that everyone knew everyone else, and would be more than willing to make scrutinies and comments on everyone else. One of the great joys of coming up to London as an adult was the feeling of total anonymity - that mostly everyone was oblivious of everyone else. One of the many reasons that I love living in London...

But your posting reminded me of the story of the late Lord (Paul) Methuen, notorious for being so scruffily dressed on his estates in Corsham. When a friend upbraided him, asking him why he didn't dress more correctly, Methuen riposted : "But why should I? After all, when I'm here in Corsham, everyone knows who I am. And when I go up to London, no-one knows who I am!"