Snow had been forecast but I didn’t believe it until I drew the curtains back on a white world. But good – no need to drive anywhere this weekend. John would continue writing his book and I would only venture a paw or two outside. It was cold enough to keep the heating on. All the same, it was as if the snow was in my head too, numbing my brain.
On Sunday I decided to venture out further around the neighbourhood, still transformed into a white and muffled landscape. There was an eerie silence everywhere – as if I was wearing ear plugs as I tramped and crunched along the pavement. I see the joy of watching a snowy landscape from inside – even walking in snow – but the latter has to be somewhere up in the mountains like Switzerland!
Ice patterns on Barnes Pond 20/01/13
Biking in snow – Barnes 2013
Snow covered sunshades – Sun Inn – Barnes
Sun Inn and pond, Barnes
Dogs love the snow – they were happy chasing and rootling around with one another while children rolled along huge snowballs. Meanwhile, I tramped on with a red nose, wondering if all this exercise was doing me good! I learned recently that the more walking about you do in the day, the better – you don’t have to go to the gym or buy lots of equipment to go running, cycling or whatever. If you do cycle at top speed (you can use an exercise bike) for three minutes a week in 20 second bursts – that will do. Or was it even just three bursts of twenty seconds? This is favourite music to my ears if it works! And I do lots of walking too – not just for the sake of it – but to get places. And I’m happy also walking in all weathers, except for humid heat – when I quickly expire. Exercise for exercise’s sake I find extremely tedious. Walking in the rain makes me sing. Running for the bus and managing to catch it is a ‘double whammy’. This is helped by the Barnes bus drivers, who often kindly wait as they see you puffing along, out of breath – yet nearly there! That’s my ‘Shanks Pony’ top gear cycling burst taken care of three times a week – I like to think!
The scientists interviewed seemed very well informed re lots of experiments and surveys on all of this! Keeping moving during the day – it’s apparently sitting too long without moving that does the damage! Great programme about all this on BBC2 Horizon with Michael Mosley. What was most interesting was that your individual metabolism needs an individual exercise programme. For instance, aerobics does wonders healthwise for some and nothing for others. I always knew deep down that I was in the latter category. But I’d love to live near hot thermal waters bubbling out of the ground … and swim in them regularly. Because I love it – and not only because it’s good for me.
Dogger and snowball …
Apple tree snow
Tiny Tim …
Did I end up on the wrong film set?!
Blow, blow, thou Winter wind! Thou art not so unkind As man’s ingratitude. Shakespeare – ‘As You Like It’
Homeward bound …
‘It’s an ill wind that blows nobody good’ and that wind was just waiting to upstage the snow some days later, when even dustbins were blown along the street in the middle of the night! And the wind brought the rain and vice versa until ‘bad hair’ days were the norm. Hats became orphans and many umbrellas lost their lives.
I recommend Lyall Watson’s ‘Heaven’s Breath’ (A Natural History of the Wind). He is one of my favourite non fiction authors. This book is out of print but available via Amazon.
‘A fine wind is blowing the new direction of Time’ (D.H. Lawrence).
Jack Frost snowflakes 1
Jack Frost snowflakes 2
January has been a cold, grim, sometimes freezing, wet and windy month – reflecting the economy. I don’t hold out much for the better in February, so I’m ending this entry with a picture of mimosa – known for its early appearance in February with a beautiful colour and habit and a fragrance which brings some hope of Spring and a better world ahead.
Bring me sunshine …