Winter Wonderland!

Living in England, particularly in the south as i do, snow is not too common. It usually snows a few times during the winter, settling probably only a couple of times and is almost always gone after a couple of days. This year we have had heavy snowfalls and frozen temperatures that have now been with us for almost two weeks. As usual the snow caused traffic chaos with many people, including myself, unable to get into work. The snow was so dense i couldn't even get out of my cul-de-sac.The authorities gritted the main roads which immediately got clogged up with traffic as nobody could use the side roads. Absolute gridlock!

The scene from my front door. Notice the uncollected refuse bins!

The upside to all the mayhem was stunning scenery along my usual walks and a welcome silence with fewer vehicles on the roads. It was also nice to see loads of children outside playing in the snow and listening to their laughter, when usually they are all indoors using the playstation or watching television.

Snow and blue sky along the canal towpath near to where i live.

Today the temperatures have gone above freezing and a big thaw has begun. There is slush on all the roads and huge puddles everywhere. No doubt there will be floods as a result bringing more mayhem to parts of the country. That's the trouble with our climate - one extreme to the other and difficult to predict.

The frozen canal. Notice the trees on the opposite bank weighted with snow drooping into the ice.

A slippery walk up to one of the locks.

 

A snowy treescape.

The Snow Car.

We were out for a walk in the snow last week (more photos and a separate blog to follow) when by chance I came across this really clever snow sculpture of a Mini in one of the streets near my home. Although it was beginning to thaw the amazing detail was still discernable. For some reason it made me smile and feel uplifted. I just had to take a photograph and share the moment with all of you.

Let this be a lesson to you.

Between Christmas and New Year my computer somehow got a virus. Not your normal spyware or adware, but a really malicious Trojan Horse. It affected my internet explorer and ability to get on the internet.

But the worst it did was to target my photographs which i had stored purposely on a second hard drive in my computer. It has completely wiped out over 2500 of my digital photos and destroyed that drive to such an extent that it needs replacing.

I had been lulled into a false sense of security as i had not had any trouble from viruses or their like for a few years. Consequently i had not been backing up my files as often as i should have and am now suffering.

Let this be a lesson to us all. Learn from my mistake. Back up your data as often as you can!!  

Put a sock in it!

On our recent walk Matt and I had occasion to cross close to the runway of  little Fairoaks Airport. We happened upon this wind sock which at the base had a memorial to someone recently departed. I took a photo because I was drawn by the array of colours in the picture. Pity I captured our shadows as well!

Crossing the edge of the runway you have to duck to avoid the landing aircraft.

H G Wells (again) and unusual trees.

Last Sunday me and my eldest son Matt went for a lazy five mile walk part of which was over Horsell Common, which if you have read my previous post on H. G. Wells and his book War of the Worlds, was where the Martians first landed with their intention to take over the world. During our walk we came across an area called the sand pit. This was the exact spot depicted by Wells as the first landing area of the Martian spacecraft.

Horsell Common is an amazing place with plenty of different species of trees, scrubland and heath. There is also an abundance of native wildlife.

The Sand Pit as depicted in The War of the Worlds.
(picture from War of the Worlds music website)

The Sand Pit, Horsell Common.

Part of the sandy soil had been washed away and eroded over the years to expose the root system of several of the trees. This did not seem to affect their growth because they all appeared healthy and flourising. They obviously have a tremendous survival instinct.

One of the glorious trees.

The intricate partly exposed root system.

Remembrance Sunday.

Last Sunday I had the priviledge to attend the Remembrance Day memorial service and parade in my home town of Woking. The service was conducted in the open air in the town square in front of the war memorial for the fallen of the First World War.

There was an amazing turnout with attendance from all branches of the military, the police, the fire service and local civic dignatries as well as the public. I was particularly impressed that there were many young people there to show their respects and wearing their poppies with pride.

I suppose that the death of our soldiers in Afghanistan keeps reminding people of the futility of war. At 11 am there was a minutes silence for reflection followed by the playing of the last post on a solitary bugle. I found the whole experience very moving.

The impressively attended Remembrance Day service in Woking Town Square in front of the First World War Memorial.

The Lady Mayor in full regalia arrives for the service.

The poignant inscription on the War Memorial in Woking town square.

The various wreaths of poppies laid at the foot of the memorial. My son Josh in air cadet uniform is in the background immediately to the left of the memorial.

Woking and H. G. Wells' War of the Worlds.

My home town of Woking has long been associated with H G Wells. Wells lived in Woking for several years, during which time he wrote his classic novel of alien invasion, The War of the Worlds (1898), much of which is set in and around the town. For the 1998 centenary of the publication of The War of the Worlds, the Borough Council chose to mark Woking's connection with both author and book by commissioning a sculpture representing the book's most striking image: the Martian Fighting Machine.

The Martian Fighting Machine - The Tripod.

The Woking Martian sculpture was created by artist Michael Condron and unveiled in April 1998. It consists of three elements: the Martian Fighting Machine, the Martian Cylinder and the Bacteria.
The Martian Fighting Machine sculpture represents one of the vast metal tripods from which the invading Martians wreaked havoc with their deadly Heat Ray. The chrome-plated stainless-steel sculpture is 7 metres (23 feet) tall with legs 17 centimetres (7 inches) in diameter. It is depicted advancing from the direction of Horsell Common, the landing site of the first Martian Cylinder. As you can see, the detail on the underside of the tripod is amazing.

The underside of the Martian Fighting Machine.

The detail is extraordinary.

The Martian Cylinder.

The Martian Cylinder represents the first of the projectiles that carried the Martians to Earth, landing on Horsell Common which is just outside Woking town centre. The cylinder element of the Woking Martian depicts the cylinder embedded in the Common, with multi-coloured bricks representing layers of soil thrown up by the impact.

In The War of the Worlds the Earth's bacteria proved the downfall of the Martians. The concourse between the FIghting Machine and the Cylinder features a number of inlaid mosaics depicting the bacteria. The final one, fittingly, shows a microbe slithering up a leg of the Fighting Machine. I think overall that this is a superb sculpture telling in detail the story of the Martian landings. However, i'm sure that many people who have never read the book or seen the film (not the Tom Cruise Hollywood version) walk by and have no idea what they are seeing. Anyway, if you have cause to visit Woking and come across this, you now know the story behind the sculpture.

Wanted. Another collective noun.

The aftermath of a triathlon at Porthcawl.

My obsession with collective nouns continues apace! We came across these athletes after they had finished a Triathlon. My question is what is the collective noun for a large group of bicycles? My humble offer is a "spoke" of bikes or bicycles. If you can come up with a better expression leave a comment. I am still looking for additional collective nouns for lifeguards and blondes.

Nature's architecture.

Concluding my visit to South Wales (honest) we came across this tree in the grounds of Margham Country Park. It had the most unusual trunk that I have ever seen.

Over time it had, for some reason, divided itself into five separate smaller trunks (trunkets?) to form a beautiful dramatic natural wooden sculpture that for me conveyed movement and the fight for light, space and survival. What do you think?

I just love the natuaral curves of this tree.

Architecture for all.

Following on from my previous ramblings concerning our visit to South Wales, I always try to take photographs of anything that takes my fancy. I particularly like buildings (see previous post), trees, colours and texture. Below are a few of my photos that I would like to share with you.
Plenty of colour. Cottages at The Mumbles.

The spire cought my eye. A lovely house in The Mumbles.

The pier at The Mumbles.

I loved the intricate ironwork on the pier.

Bathing huts overlooking the beach at Langland.

Much more traditional. The picturesque Tudor-Gothic style Victorian Mansion House at Margam Country Park.

Part of the 12th century Chapter House at Margham Country Park.