… it stays pretty green. Except this year it has and it doesn’t. These last few days, winter arrived early in Northumberland and elsewhere across the UK. It never used to snow much in Cheshire either, except in the long winter of 1963 ‘when it felt like the world would freeze, with John F. Kennedy and the Beatles’. I remember rare nights in the 1950s, staring out at the dim glow of gas street lamps as they lit up huge flakes falling out of the dark night. The rarity made it even more special. Nothing changes the world quite so dramatically.
If we get no more snow this winter then we will still have had more than the last couple of years which have been monotonously grey and wet. The British like nothing more than to discuss the weather, perhaps because we get so much of it. Even the trees shiver …
Snow gets me out, or at least it gets me out with a modicum more enthusiasm than when it is simply cold and wet. We have lived nearby these country lanes for more than twenty years so I have taken countless images of the same things and many have appeared on this blog. The challenge comes from seeing things differently – modern RAW processors provide endless possibilities for variation. These were all taken on the same short walk to Sandhoe postbox – Saturday 2nd December 2017:
… the north side of Beaufront Castle.
… the north side of Beaufront Castle
… the dead of winter
… Sandhoe postbox
Oh the bitter winds are coming in
And I’m already missing the summer
Stockholm’s cold but I’ve been told
I was born to endure this kind of weather
northumbrian : light 
I love the contrast in these images; particularly the rich colours of the last two. They play nicely with my expectations of “snowy winter shots.” Your video is quite mesmerizing too 🙂
Thanks Su – snow has now gone but we are promised more at the end of the week.
Beautiful bleak images. There is something about the snow that beckons. I wish we’d get some over here. Enjoy your rare wintry silence.
(The video was blocked for me for some reason.)
Thanks Julie – shame you can’t see the video – it’s a potential Oscar winner 🙂
Magic video, Robin. Essence of winter. Why do such scenes always spark nostalgia for the perfect Christmas that never was?
Thanks Tish – yes, I think you are right – it all about Christmas past. My solution was to head north to the Arctic on the Hurtigruten coastal ferry. By far the most magical Christmas I have ever experienced. Now I just long to go back
Yes. Head for the Arctic. My imagination has set off already 🙂
Brrrrr
It was Sue 🙂 The northerlies have abated but they come back on Friday according to Countryfile.
So I heard….
They needn’t hurry, Robin. I’ve just about acclimatised. 🙂 🙂 I was very excitable on Thursday but then quite relieved when it had gone by Saturday. I don’t do ice skating easliy.
Ah yes Jo, the downside – too much ice and not enough salt from Northumberland County Council 😉
love the time-lapse video, it’s brilliant.
Many thanks – looks like I could be shooting more by this weekend – I hope 😉
Yes, i’ve heard. I go back to work on Thursday, happy days!!
It’s been much too warm here to snow–Indian summer at its best. But it’s December and I’m so ready for winter and snow. So thanks for indulging my snow dreams. 🙂
janet
Happy to oblige Janet 🙂 Hope your snows arrive soon – I imagine them spectacular when they do,
In the Chicago area we don’t get nearly as much snow as we did when we lived in Cleveland on the east side, which was one edge of a snow belt that extended all the way to Buffalo, New York. We got quite a lot of snow there and I loved it.
We have a shared passion for the white stuff 🙂 Incidentally, I have just done a major clean up of the blogs I follow and may have unfollowed you by mistake at some stage – anyway, you are definitely back on my small but select list 😉