It seems ages since I last posted anything on this blog, so I decided to take the camera with me on this mornings stroll. At the top of the road all sorts of fascinating machines are preparing to do battle with our water mains.
Preparing for battle
Last Saturday
The weekend started off really pleasant. The weather was autumnal, but quite bright and sunny so I set off with the dog and managed to get a shot or two of sunny fields. But it didn’t last long, and Sunday saw me turning the heating on and slipping into my wellies before venturing outdoors.
It’s that time of the year again…
… when the sun shines directly into the local station’s pedestrian subway, casting fascinating shadows of hurried legs, laptop bags and rolled up newspapers.
In the evening, just opposite the village station, a refreshing pint and a browse through the newspaper under the shade of a horse chestnut tree.
Clouds
The first week of May brought us some beautiful sunny evenings with typically dark clouds, rainbows and all sorts of interesting stuff. As usual the camera was idling at home while I had to make do with my mobile phone.
Spring
A sunny day in the garden today…. not getting my hands dirty, but creeping through the undergrowth to capture a picture or two of some busy bees.
Rainbow
The people who design light fittings have obviously never actually had to fit them to a ceiling. Or perhaps they have four child sized hands and the strength of superman.
There I was, up a ladder, holding the light fitting in one hand, a screwdriver in the other and trying to ease the wire into a hole plainly too small for the job with my spare hands, suffering with acute arm ache and sweating profusely. Suddenly a shout of delight resounded from below stairs…. “Oh!! Look out of the window! There’s a rainbow!”
I couldn’t even see a window from where I was perched. Loosing concentration for a moment, the wire jumped out of it’s hole again, the screwdriver lost it’s screw and I shouted “Oh Super!“ and ran excitedly to the nearest window to feast my eyes upon one of nature’s wonders.
Luckily my camera wasn’t far away so I decided to capture the moment before it was all over.
Unfortunately I couldn’t get back far enough to do the rainbow full justice. On the right of the picture, well out of the picture’s frame, the arc even continued through blue sky. I suppose posting a black and white image of a rainbow tends to defeat the whole reason for taking a photograph of a rainbow in the first place…. but enjoyed processing it.
A hint of Spring
Now that it’s quite officially Spring, I suppose one could expect pictures of blooming flowers and things. Be patient. The garden now has one or two splashes of colour, a primrose or two here, a bunch of snowdrops there. But the big blobs of yellow daffodils are saving themselves for Easter.
Pure New Wool
Listening and watching the media this week, one could easily be forgiven for thinking that temperatures around these parts never actually drop much below freezing at this time of the year.
Agreed, it is quite chilly and overnight temperatures of -15°C are not too common where I live. But is it really necessary to interview minor celebrities on the subject of suitable clothing and how they combat the cold… clothing wise? It’s Winter for heavens sake! As a general rule it it can be said that in Winter it’s a good idea to wrap up nice and warm.
Deafened by the sound of chattering teeth while waiting for my train in the morning, I can only assume that many don’t eat breakfast and don’t wear the right clothes.
My suggestion to all those early morning shiverers: Throw away all that man-made fibre stuff and wear proper woollies, and consider a piping hot bowl of porridge for breakfast instead of a low fat, bowel moving yoghurt! oh dear.. am I beginning to sound old?
Windy and wet
While the mountain folk are busily shoveling snow from early morning until bedtime, we have been having a few really beautiful days. No snow though, just bright sunshine and minus temperatures.
Well, that was last weekend, when these two photos were taken. Today we had high winds and rain in torrents…. picture will follow within the next day or two.
Happy New Year
Here’s a quick new year photo before the festivities start! Not a very festive picture I admit, but the weather was slightly below average and the light somewhat dull and colourless.
A very Happy New Year to all my readers and fellow bloggers!
