night ALL you lovely peeps

Good morning everyone

 

Squiggle, an interesting link - thank you

 

In Gloucester, the snow turned to icy rain yesterday evening. There's not a lot of snow as a result but it is icy and it's also foggy. I'm hoping that during the course of the day the snow and ice will melt away but it's not forecast to get much above 4 degrees during the day time and although not tonight or tomorrow night, the night time temperatures are then forecast to get down to -4 for a few days.

Good morning everyone, it doesn't seem to be quite so cold here today although I haven't been out.

 

Stay warm and keep safe everybody.

Good morning everyone.

No snow up here, but lots of black ice. The pavements are particularly slippy.

I hope you are all cosy and warm where you are and the snow isn't causing you too many problems.

Good morning everyone.    Well no snow when we went to bed but about eight inches on the ground this morning!!  It looks lovely but will cause chaos for travelling.  The forecasters say it will stay fairly icy here until mid week so I don't expect to see a thaw yet.  Good job I took a trip to the shops yesterday.  Don't need to go out again now until the end of the week.

 

Keep warm and stay safe. 

I walked to church this morning because of the fog. The snow was melting as I went there, and on the way back the fog had lifted and virtually no snow left. I think the next couple of days are less cold than the last few days but the Met Office's latest prediction is that temperatures aren't expected to recover to the average until towards the end of this month, though.

 

Joyron, I hope the snow in your area does thaw away by the time you need to go out again. Sensible of you to do your shopping before the snow came

You might want to check out the 11th photo of the 12 photos on this BBC webpage

 

I know you will love it

Great pic and No.10 was seriously cute, too.

Yogi, photo 10 is very cute, but I think 11 is brilliant

 

I saw this pic today and thought it was a 10 on the Cute Factor.

Great pictures EL, I especially liked 10 and 11, thanks for posting.

 

Aww I love that puppy in the snow Yogi.

I want one!

Yogi, seriously cute

 

You might just possibly like this little clip posted today on Youtube - the puppy is 11 weeks old.

Brilliant video, El. Keira still likes to eat the snow.

good evening I've been busy decorating all day and am just running a bath.. I need to gloss the door tomorrow, I didn't dare tonight because I had to put a mattress & bedding back in the room and knew I'd hit the door! I'm very happy with the makeover so far I had some text messages this morning from my friends in Suffolk, they have loads of snow too! There was barely an inch here and that's pretty much melted now. Joyron I'm glad you got your shopping done and don't need to battle with the snow for you all

I don't think either one of us would be safe if they are were giving them away

 

Glad you have had a good day Summer I bet the room looks great, enjoy your bath.

Well done on getting your decorating done, Summer.

We don't have any snow at all, so no snow for Keira to play in. How are your bunnies coping with the cold weather?

I'm going to sign out a bit early tonight, sleep well and speak to you all tomorrow.

Snuggle up and keep cosy, sleep well Squiggle.

hi  yogi and again summer night squiggle

Hi Ros.

Have you got any snow in your area?

Hi ros hope you've had a good day..? Yogi, i let my bunnies out and they played in the snow all day, they love it! Sweet dreams squiggle sleep well

Aww, I guess I shouldn't be surprised that your bunnies like the snow, after all they'd play in the snow if they were wild rabbits. I bet they looked cute.

If eating the bird food and demolishing our plants is cute, then yes they were very cute today
They do jump around like crazy when I let them out, but more so in snow lol I do have a video of them from 2 years ago in snow, I should try to find it..
I bet they feel extra soft tomorrow!

Have you had any snow at all yogi? It seems strange the southern counties getting more than us!

Aww, I hope you can find the vid of the rabbits.

No, not a single flake of snow, it's very strange.

I've got fine rain and fog tonight, it's a bit spooky.

Got to sign out now, catch up tomorrow. Hugs to you and Ros.

not seen a snowflake

night lovely yogi

 

summer your bunnies sound really cute

aww just seen this - it is sooooo cute yogi

Good morning everyone

 

Here, all the snow, what there was of it, has gone. Although the roads are damp, there doesn't seem to be any sign of ice. Very cloudy though.

 

Call the Midwife last night was good, but easily the most serious of the series.

 

I think it's because the cold is to the east of us and the warmer weather is to the west. If you look on a map, much of Scotland is more to the west than England. For instance Aberdeen is more on less on the same longitude as Gloucester.

morning! Let's try again lol I was attempting post this morning when I was interrupted and I ended up posting a message from last night and had no time to delete it until now.. I should be posting normally again now How are we all?! I slept so heavy, and dreamed that I rang the dentist for mr summer and got an appointment tomorrow morning. This morning I did actually call the dentist, and got him an appointment for.. Tomorrow morning lol

Good morning everyone.

It was a foggy start to the morning but the sun is now trying to break through.

I hope those of you with snow are able to keep warm and cosy.

Summer, your post reminded me I need to contact the dentist to make an appointment for Mr Yogi. It's lucky for me that you had that dream last night.

El, I've recorded Call The Midwife and will catch up this afternoon. I am enjoying this series and even like Miranda Hart's character.

Good morning everyone, how spooky was your dream Summer

 

It seems much milder here thank goodness but I gather we may be in for more cold weather towards the end of the week. 

 

I was just trying to get my head around the longitude thing we do tend to think in terms of north and south when we think of southern england and scotland I have never thought of Aberdeen being on the same longitude as Gloucester.

Summer, we'll need to rename you Sweet Psychic Pancake

 

Squiggle, Gloucester's longitude is 2.25 degrees west and Aberdeen 2.1. That's roughly 6 miles apart in terms of west to east, not south to north

This article was in my newspaper today, I found it charming and hope you do too

 

From an enchanting writer new to Britain: The exquisite joy of my first snowfall!

By Clarissa Tan

So that’s what snow looks like. On Saturday night, standing at my window, I did not at once recognise what that white stuff was gathering all over the kerbs and cars.

It looks like the world’s being frosted, I thought. And then I realised — it’s exactly that. I pressed my nose against the pane and saw, through the dark, my first flakes falling.

When I was young and growing up in the tropics, most of the books I read were set in Britain.

The children on the pages had summer picnics and autumn bonfires; in winter, young sleuths tracked suspicious footprints left in snow.

I found all this deeply exotic, for the reality around me was very different. Nobody went for picnics because the weather was far too hot and humid, lighting a bonfire was unthinkable and ‘snow’ came either in the form of cotton wool or from an aerosol can.

It was only after arriving in Britain half a year ago that I experienced autumn and winter — and the lapsing of one into the other — for the first time.

In Singapore, where I lived, there are no seasons. The climate is extremely warm all year round. Daylight and twilight arrive at the same times every day.

Trees are steadfastly green, and fruit and flowers grow lush and luxuriant from January to December. There, the sun is not something to be courted — if you took a walk outdoors, you’d scurry about from shade to shade, avoiding its powerful rays.

I find the flow of the seasons beautiful and somewhat unsettling. In autumn I watched in awe as trees all over London blazed into reds and yellows.

But my wonder turned into a vague worry when their leaves started falling and the trees’ ‘arms’ showed, shorn of their dressings. How mournful, I thought. Yet —how beautiful it made the ground.

Parks and pavements became carpeted in gold as all around, leaves wafted down.

I was moved by little things: one day I saw a black cab turn the corner at Russell Square in London and I stopped in my tracks, startled by the spiral of amber leaves in its wake.

At a certain moment, it seemed to me, everyone in Britain became alert to an unspoken common call. Out came scarves and boots and long coats, mitts and gloves and woolly hats. Jackets got puffier, jumpers thicker.

London cyclists, in one accord, became bulky figures hunched over flashing metal. Dishes got heartier and soups brighter, tinged by pumpkin and carrot and squash.

Come October everyone, in syncopation, set back their clocks by one hour. A kind of rite of winter was being performed, I realised.

 

I was impressed by the sense of national coordination, as well as gripped by new and trivial anxieties.

I did not know what to wear. Or, rather, I knew what to wear but not how to wear it. I come from a land of perpetual sun, where T-shirts, shorts, sandals and even flip-flops are acceptable all-year-round gear unless you’re stepping into an office.

Winter wear here in Britain is elegant, but I found it troubling on some fronts. I understood the concept of layers, but its execution was more difficult.

How many times have I shrugged into my coat and strode out of my home, only to discover after a few steps that I was shivering because I’d forgotten a crucial stratum of clothing — the jumper that goes on top of my top but under my overcoat?

Or risen sleepily and pulled on my pullover, only to realise that I should have struggled into a shirt first?

Buying knee-high boots, I have discovered, is useless unless you’ve also bought knee-high socks. Not used to winter clothes, I don’t feel like they’re a second skin to me, the way most Brits obviously do.

I feel self-conscious. Why does everyone’s scarf fall so naturally and stylishly while mine looks like a noose?

Still, as the weeks pass, I find myself more in step with the weather.

Winter can be great for walks. On weekends I walk for hours, never breaking into a sweat; this for me is luxury. I have no map, no destination — I follow the course of the sun. In the cold months, it gives off a beautiful light but little heat. How strange it feels to be chasing the sun!

I track it towards Charing Cross and watch its beams slide over the church of St Martin-in-the-Fields. When its light falls on the National Gallery, I am there.

I pursue its trail across Trafalgar Square, its long line all the way down the Mall. Then, from a blue bridge in St James’s Park, I see its pink rays disappear behind Buckingham Palace.

It’s when you’re shivering, hobbling along gusty streets at this time of year, that you understand the British pub a little better.

I’ve always felt awkward in pubs and still do, not having been brought up in a beer culture.

Yet it’s just dawned on me that they’re more than places in which to drink: they’re little bulwarks against the cold, especially when there is a carpet of snow outside as there was yesterday.

In a pub you find your friends, sometimes a fire, definitely heat, lots of snug wood. Pubs are cubbyholes where people exchange warmth and hug huge mugs of golden liquid while everything is grey outside.

And curry — of course, the British love curry. It’s spicy and warming and even comes in cheering orangey shades. In fact, I think curries taste better in the UK, due to the comfort factor, than they do in Singapore or even India.

Sometimes I miss the tropics. I miss the predictable warmth, the languid afternoons, the joy of knowing you can dive into a swimming pool at any time, night or day.

Yet there’s something in the passing of the seasons, something that stirs me. It’s grand. It is the whirl of time — a tangible, giant display of the cycle of life.

It makes me feel small in the scheme of things, but in a way that frees me rather than fills me with fear. Nothing is for ever, the seasons turn, and that is liberating. The harshest period, the bleakest hours — could they be any bleaker this year than they were on Saturday night? — these, too, shall pass.

I’ve been worrying, too, about growing old. I turned 40 in January and now contemplate the ever-shortening line of my time left.

One day I will wake up to find that I walk slower, stoop lower, can see more of my gums. My hands will be old and gnarled like the branches of a bare tree.

Yet after the initial puzzlement — that first shock of the strange — confronting actual bare, gnarled trees brings relief. It’s my fear materialised, and it’s not so bad.

The trick may be to slide along with the seasons and not resist.

On Saturday night, I watched the fudge of white thickening over everything. It didn’t look like cotton wool at all. I put on my layers and stepped outside.

Children at a nearby park were whooping and lobbing snowballs. Near the steps to my building, a chattering couple was busy fashioning a snowman.

I found myself laughing — my breath fresh steam in black air.

Then I stamped my own footprints, one after another, in the snow and looked up to let the flakes settle lightly on my face.
 

Squiggle, that is a lovely story, thank you

 

I checked out Clarissa Tan, and as I thought from the quality of the writing, she is a journalist, has written some short stories and is trying to write a novel.

That's beautiful squiggle! Crikey yes we love to complain about our weather but I sure do love seasons! All of them Yogi I'm glad my dream was useful to you and hope that mr yogi gets an appointment soon I had a similar experience 6 months ago when I dreamt of my yoga teacher and her boss, in the dream we were out walking but they told me that the yoga class would be no more I awoke both gutted and relieved that it was just a dream.. Until 2 days later when I got the call to tell me the class was no more lol

What a lovely piece of writing, Squiggle. Makes me appreciate our changing seasons more than ever.

Summer, El is right, we will need to rename you Psychic Pancake or Psychic Summer.

I've just noticed I am wearing my t-shirt back to front.

I've been out to the shops like this - good job I had my jacket on.

Hi everyone, hope you all had a good weekend x
Its a really nice day here, sunny and mild  

What are you like Yogi  At least you remembered the way home, thats the main thing