Saturday, January 24, 2015

the other side of proper snow

hello again

yes, indeed i am still alive, dear reader. it has been close, though. this manflu laced with scurvy, ebola, sarin gas and some other uncomfortable things has proved to be not quite the death of me it had intended, look you see.

i am able, then, to bring you some more pictures of that snow stuff that some of you - mostly those that have never lived with it - must think to be magical and wonderful. partially it is, as it happens, but there is another side to it, one that we shall explore here if you stick with me.

there are even some proper pictures here, taken by my (considerably) better half on a proper one of them phone things with a camera welded on. no, not an Apple iGalaxy, i did say proper phone. here, then, to start off with, is one of those picturesque views of snow, which shows off the lovely side of it that everyone imagines it to be like all the time.



yes, i quite agree with you there - a truly magnificent picture and a beautiful scene. nice one, (considerably) better half, a fantastic picture. if the above were all of the consequence and the sole effect of snow, then i would say yes, let there be snow all the time; turn us into Norway, Finland or some other such place that has loads and loads of snow.

a quick break from the snow to show you down town earlier this week (as opposed to some point in the middle of next month). here is a picture what i took, with snow somewhat absent.



someone i know is quite impressed with one of the buildings on display in the above, so there you go, you can all go right ahead and be impressed too.

right, the other side of snow. the other side would be a somewhat darker, negative side to it. that would be the joys of travelling in it, and indeed the aftermath of it falling. snow, as it happens, does not just magically vanish after it has been around. the process of it going involves a transformation into some sort of mushy sludge stuff. observe, if you will.



whereas snow is all pretty and nice and lovely, what it becomes as it melts is, allowing for beauty to be something in the eye of the beholder, not quite so lovely. this sort of sludge, for instance, very seldom graces Christmas cards, does it?

beneath this sludge, as has been mentioned on these pages before, is ice. this makes driving treacherous, indeed dangerous. when you are blessed with a council that no longer feels the need to grit residential roads, you get to have this kind of thing to try and drive on. 



cheers for that, council. i am sure that whatever you spent the money on instead was well worth it, and will try to remember that during the election in May.

another brief diversion, if i may, as this looks like as good a place as any to put a reminder for a book that i quite liked the look of. i may well browse my own site one day - something i seldom do - and be reminded that i really rather liked the cover and name of this novel, which is 50% more reason than usual for me to pick something to read. 



what's it about? i have absolutely no idea. it does, however, appear to be a self-contained novel, which is good, rather than it being "book seven in series eight of the forth whatever trilogy", so it should be decent reading in itself. also, the lamb or stag or lion or whatever on the cover looks amazing, man.

the snow has, as it happens, all but gone now, but here's a picture from around 7:10am one morning on my usual stroll to the bus stop. as you can see, the main roads get cleared. just the residential ones do not. a bit like saying "we will put the fire out just beyond the lava pit before you", only with cold stuff instead of fire.



another diversion. on the bus during the week i was messing about with my pod of i, opting to listen to some vibes for a bit instead of reading. i observed that i had the wisdom to add the soundtrack for The Wicker Man to it, and so listened to Magnet, or Lodestone, or whatever the band who did the songs was called. really smart, that was.

it got me thinking of the film, and how i would find it agreeable to watch it again. i thus had a browse around the web to see if it was available for a financially agreeable price, and i found this.



it is interesting and indeed, to me, exciting that someone would describe The Wicker Man as being a "family adventure movie".  that's some peculiar idea of family that the person who wrote that has, man. it is a brilliant movie, and one which i would describe in a number of ways. sadly, neither "family" nor "adventure" would feature in my comments. perhaps this is all the more reason for me to watch it again, and soon, to see what it is i missed out on.

another image of snow becoming sludge and difficult to navigate? i cannot think of why you would want to see more, but to finish off, why not.



i am off to, hopefully, watch yet another movie within this year of 2015, and sadly no not The Wicker Man as i elected not to purchase this family adventure version of the film. after that, i shall carry on the good fight against the manflu with all that other stuff thrown in on top of it.

so, for friends in Africa and partial parts of Australia, snow may look fantastic, but it comes with a price. many a car we have seen slipping and sliding in it, with thankfully no harm or injuries caused.


i trust your weekend is most splendid!




be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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