Stormy Weather II

[DracoM]

And after snow /ice/frost yesterday, this a.m...................nowt, not a flake to be seen!!! Hallo, 2021!

[oddoneout]

Murky round the edges but the cloud cover seems reasonably high and is showing signs of breaking in places so brighter than might otherwise be the case. Temperatures significantly up but not feeling as much so as the figures would suggest as it's now damp cold. My thermometer has been given a good shake down, exposed to the open air, and is now gradually getting itself sorted so that min and max are the right way round. Good thing I've always taken its figures with a pinch of salt!

[cloughie]

Overnight we had our first frost of (I was going to say of the year but then it would be, regardless) the winter.

[Pulcinella]

Grey, cold, and a few snowflakes here this morning.
Estate lake well and truly frozen: dog's (dogs'?) bowl out front less so (only a thin layer): weird!

[DracoM]

Green grass to total snow in 20 mins. Hmm.

[Serial_Apologist]

Green grass to total snow in 20 mins. Hmm.

There seems to have been a lot of snow across Wales, the NW and Midlands. Here rather cloudy following light rain this morning, but the temperature managed an almost civilised 5 C - 3 C higher than yesterday, when my friend and I covered 4 miles of fascinating back streets between and to the north of Peckham and Camberwell. People easily write off Peckham as run down, but there are a number of picturesque Regency enclaves, terraces and semi-detached houses with linking pairs of front entrances flanked by fluted pilasters, some with characteristic bow windows. Burgess Park looked austere in the grey dimming afternoon light, but at least improving visibility for the first time since before Xmas meant the London Eye, Shard, Gherkin and other buildings were visible, looking showy in their Christmas illuminations against the orange sunset. We came across an extraordinary mural covering the entire southern wall of a church: a picture of an enormous Beardsley-styled woman in a massive flowing dress with a sloping path up the front, disappearing into a tunnel where her cleavage is. Up this ascent a line of people of many nationalities are ascending from jungle-like undergrowth, looks of anticipation on their faces, some turning to beckon followers onwards. Images of what might be taken as either roots or intestines are to be seen running through the soil in cross-section along the bottom of the mural. No apparent Christian symbology whatever - in fact the whole depiction seemed surprisingly heavy with pagan associations to be found on the end of a Pentecostal church. Further on we came across a large disused church with tall pillars at the front and a date, 1822, carved into its portico, wings attached and to the rear in the form of extensive living accommodation, 2-story terraces forming a largish square at the rear, paired front doors, ostensibly the originals, so presumably originally some religious foundational community, though there were no notices or signage indicating what it was or is. And detailed perusing of street maps from various periods right back to 1830 reveals nothing of help - most strange. I intend returning sometime, taking notes of the location and name of the church, and see what I can come up with. South London is just so full of surprises!

As far as the weather outlook is concerned, it looks as if we are about to experience "the Beast from the East" as the Russian winter high swells and spreads its influence westwards, blocking the Atlantic jet and diverting low pressure systems along the Med. Fortunately the associated airmass source is not that cold - temperatures at around minus 6 predicted at Moscow, ie not that low for early January. All this is being predicated on Tropospheric warming which, ironically, means cold weather at our latutude by causing blockings and reversals of the north hemisphere jet, and there is talk being conjectured of a possibly very cold winter in the offing!

[DracoM]

Ah, but then, THIS a.m., much snow, now still there and clearing skies...so, no doubt more - and ice.

[Joseph K]

Sounds, from your vivid description, like an interesting walk, S_A...

[BBMmk2]

Strange, a village near me, Ardingly, had some snow, last night, around 10:15pm. We didn’t get any. It was this village where I worked at the public school there. www.ardingly.com

[oddoneout]

Further on we came across a large disused church with tall pillars at the front and a date, 1822, carved into its portico, wings attached and to the rear in the form of extensive living accommodation, 2-story terraces forming a largish square at the rear, paired front doors, ostensibly the originals, so presumably originally some religious foundational community, though there were no notices or signage indicating what it was or is. And detailed perusing of street maps from various periods right back to 1830 reveals nothing of help - most strange. I intend returning sometime, taking notes of the location and name of the church, and see what I can come up with. South London is just so full of surprises!

As far as the weather outlook is concerned, it looks as if we are about to experience "the Beast from the East" as the Russian winter high swells and spreads its influence westwards, blocking the Atlantic jet and diverting low pressure systems along the Med. Fortunately the associated airmass source is not that cold - temperatures at around minus 6 predicted at Moscow, ie not that low for early January. All this is being predicated on Tropospheric warming which, ironically, means cold weather at our latutude by causing blockings and reversals of the north hemisphere jet, and there is talk being conjectured of a possibly very cold winter in the offing!

Re Church, is it this one? http://www.bridgetonowhere.friendsof...eorges-church/
The local rag has been getting quite excited about Beast from the East repeat, digging out pics from the last one. My reaction is "oh no, just what we don't need"!

[Serial_Apologist]

Re Church, is it this one? http://www.bridgetonowhere.friendsof...eorges-church/
The local rag has been getting quite excited about Beast from the East repeat, digging out pics from the last one. My reaction is "oh no, just what we don't need"!

Not that church, this one:

http://www.myfriendshouse.co.uk/secret-peckham-the-asylum

I re-visited the district just this afternoon, determined to work out where I had been on Friday, and got caught in a hailstorm while cycling back!

The other church, around the corner - the one with the fantastic mural - is this one. The church is in fact RC, not pentecostal, as I had assumed, and the mural by an Italian artist, dating back from 2017. I am reproducing these on the Tourist threads.

http://londonchurchbuildings.com/2018/11/21/st-john-meeting-house-lane-peckham/

[BBMmk2]

Not a very good day today. Ah well......

[DracoM]

Pavements lethal with black ice this a.m.

[oddoneout]

Not that church, this one:

http://www.myfriendshouse.co.uk/secret-peckham-the-asylum

I re-visited the district just this afternoon, determined to work out where I had been on Friday, and got caught in a hailstorm while cycling back!

The other church, around the corner - the one with the fantastic mural - is this one. The church is in fact RC, not pentecostal, as I had assumed, and the mural by an Italian artist, dating back from 2017. I am reproducing these on the Tourist threads.

http://londonchurchbuildings.com/201...-lane-peckham/

That style seems to have been popular!
The mural is impressive. The design of the church it adorns reminds me of the new church in which I was christened which apparently had a tower like structure added to it by planners who wanted it to be part of a wider vision for the new estate being built - but didn't fund it. It was demolished some time ago as it had become structurally unsound; there were problems with it for many years before that I gather.

[Serial_Apologist]

That style seems to have been popular!
The mural is impressive. The design of the church it adorns reminds me of the new church in which I was christened which apparently had a tower like structure added to it by planners who wanted it to be part of a wider vision for the new estate being built - but didn't fund it. It was demolished some time ago as it had become structurally unsound; there were problems with it for many years before that I gather.

I wonder what happens to all the consecration, whenever a church is demolished. Presumably it just gets written off...

What a horrible day today is! I hate it when the air temperature is cold enough for it to be snowing rather than raining, as a consequence of melting as precipitation descends through a layer warmer than at ground level - which it was, almost, here at midday (3 degrees C). And we have to endure another 36 hours of this, in the SE.

Winds are set to shift around into a more northerly direction from Wednesday, which means it still remains on the cold side, but will at least be mostly dry, with cloud breaks.