I hope you’ve all had a jolly old christmas, I know I have; too much of lots of things and presents too – fab!
It’s frrreeeezing here (it’s been the coldest December since records began and the temperature hasn’t risen above freezing point for weeks), I nipped out into the garden this morning in my slippers to take some frosty photos to look at later in the year when I’m moaning about how hot it is…
I’m still around, I promise! Like everyone else at this time of year I am super-busy and running around chasing my tail (haven’t caught it yet). I’ve just applied some (rather lovely Chanel ‘Blue Satin’) nail varnish and as a result have to sit relatively motionless for a few minutes so thought I would check in (I’m typing slowly with just two fingers).
This crazy indulgence is due to the office xmas ‘do’ being tomorrow – can’t wait! I then I have a super-crazy weekend of wrapping presents, discovering I have missed some presents, going out into the cowds to buy more presents, wrapping those presents and then realising I have no tree up to put the presents under.
There’s a bottle of Disaronno somewhere with my name on it… at least there blimmin’ better be!
On Thursday I worked from home as we had a LOT of snow (for this little part of of the world – we’re really not geared up for it). I stayed in my comfy warm house and took these shots of the garden through the kitchen window (I’m no fool)…
I managed to slip (literally) into work today but after two days of the white stuff I have to say the novelty is wearing off!
That said, I have found some lovely snowy photos on flickr and made a gallery – maybe I do want the snow!
Is it cold where you are today?
Chances are if you’re in the northern hemisphere then you’re rather chilly right now, I know I am! Imagine being able to “chase the sun” (if you were suitably endowed financially). You could fly off to the sunniest, sandiest beach in Australia and there’d be no traipsing through sludge and slush to a freezing cold office, no watching the sun set not long after lunchtime. Perhaps now and again it would be nice to slot in a trip to a picturesque ski resort, just to get a sanitized dose of leisurely snowiness, but that would be it as regards the vagaries of winter.
On the other hand, maybe there are some things I would miss.
The guilt-free hunkering down and delight in domesticated duties like cake-making and, err… cake-eating. I’d miss the twigginess of the trees and the bright berries that are sometime the only colour in a purely monochrome landscape. And the frost; how it can turn the most ordinary of scenes into a Narnia-like winter wonderland.
Viewing an English lanscape in the absolute depths of winter feels like time travelling. Surely it must always have looked like this, we must have always felt the coldness, this piercing icyness. Biting down, deep to the core. Words we speak appear before us like clouds then dissipate into the thin, watery sunlight. Then time travelling in the other direction when we step into our centrally-heated homes, feeling the thaw. A cup of cocoa.
I think I would miss it.
It’s totally grim out there; cold, wet, dark.
On the plus side this means I don’t have to feel guilty about being snuggled up indoors for most of the day watching (mostly bad) television and drinking lots of coffee.
When you live somewhere as inclement as England you kind have to go out when the sun is shining at the weekend.
Ha, take THAT grey hairs! Blatted you with Nice ‘n Easy #117D ‘Natural Medium Cool Brown’ which is actually almost black when I use it because my hair’s so curly and soaks up the dye like a sponge. Actually this is a terrible photo – it looks like there’s still grey there but it’s not, it’s shine. Shininess and my hair are not often seen together in the same room.
Well, not exactly my street but it’s walking distance and a bit more interesting…
…you never know who you might meet or what you might find just lying around…
…and after you’ve kicked through all the leaves and nosed in all the windows…
…then it’s time for refreshments; something warming inside!
I have a feeling that from here on in any photos I take are going to much more wintry than autumnal, so here’s a last look at the golden tones that have been so wonderful these last few weeks.
I’m refusing point-blank to get all bothered about the cold and dark – we live on a lovely little planet that happens to be a bit tilted and summer sunshine is all the more special when you have to wait patiently for it.
