Funny yes, but this big comedic divide between North and South has produced a rash of funnies in the same way. One thing I would say is why did not our government come out more forcefully and tell people to just keep off the roads, and just allow all necessary vehicles on the road, the list would not have been long. Saw a poem praising all the tractors that have been out pulling people out of trouble contrasting our moaning at them when we meet them on the roads normally and have to follow them for miles;)
Feed your birds please; They are so hungry, they fly towards the house windows when they see the curtains drawn. The jackdaw with the injured wing is still around taking cover in the old hawthorn branches. I feed the rest of the jackdaws on the front lawn, where the snow lies quite deep. Blackbirds are always first up in the morning bickering between themselves, the two robins coming close by. The song thrush/es have returned looking pretty miserable with fluffed up feathers. The collared doves come noisily in waiting for their seeds. The smaller birds, tits, sparrows and finches are having problems with the feeders as they swing in the fierce winds. The blizzards roar through the little copse and the garden is littered with Scotch fir trimmings.
The Carvery was a success last night, everyone turned up, I became treasurer and took the last money paid up for tickets. The raffle netted £80, and I got 6 eggs from Jo's flock as mine have ceased laying. The new vicar came as well to introduce himself.
J said he is not having a chemical/biogradable loo next to his garden which runs alongside the church yard
Have I not told you about this? As church numbers have declined there has been a move towards using the church for other activities. Firstly, like most churches it is cold, secondly there is no water and thirdly no loo. Water could be laid on from the road, heat is an ongoing problem but a loo? our outgoing churchwarden had done some research and gone to a small church hidden away in a dale somewhere not too far away. Bransdale Church, Cockayne..
Isolated in this small very pretty dale, and a must to visit when the weather gets better.
They have invested in a biodegradable loo housed in a 'Red Squirrel' hut, whatever that is. Unfortunately, walkers and cyclists use it and not being overly careful put the wrong things in the loo rather than the small bin provided.....
I can see the bird table on the front lawn as I type, the two doves have been cooing sweetly to each other, they do say that cold weather brings forth more babies, but the doves are such untidy home makers that their nests often fall apart.
That made me laugh! Gabby is snowed in at Cardiff (where she works) so is having to stay with a workmate until the Council gets a grip with the roads. Here in our valley we have just a few flakes of snow, but by gum, the gale's something else. I have never felt a wind so cold and it is so blardy persistant!
ReplyDeleteWe had 16 Blackbirds waiting for breakfast this morning and I am about to gird my loins, cut up some more withered apples for them (a small box left over from last year's harvest) and put out some loose seed.
Blackbirds love their fruit. I suppose the snow and wind has only reached Wales today, wheras we have had it for quite a while. Glad Gabby found somewhere to sleep, my daughter is trying to run her two shops, but people have become ill as well.
DeleteWhen I took the entrance exam to get into the higher part of the convent it was immediately after the winter of '62/63. The first line of my essay was "Poor birds in winter" and I wrote about what we did during that winter feeding and watering the wild birds. When I went for the interview with my mother a few weeks later Mother Superior said it was the best essay she had seen. I have never forgotten the first line of it and in fact can pretty much see the entire essay in my mind now. It felt nothing to me at the time, just relating what we did on the farm. It was over 50 years ago. Nothing really changes. All the farmers around here are helping with the roads and stuck vehicles.
ReplyDeleteThat is some memory Rachel, the birds become so dependent on us as their feeding grounds vanish under snow. The poem by the way was long and mediocre but it did emphasis what I see looking out of the window. Farmers and their tractors, with snow ploughs are keeping our B road clear, and I suspect all the little lanes to the other villages.
DeleteI have a good memory, as do my brothers. It can be boring for outsiders and for the four of us together it can also be highly emotive. One brother in particular can relate entire conversations from 60 years ago and even if the rest of us can we know to keep quiet, he doesn't!
DeleteWe are having similar weather in US and we are on alert for very strong winds, lots of heavy rain or snow, possible sleet, whiteouts, trees tumbling, power outages and all kinds of mayhem. March is coming in like a lion for the northern hemisphere.
ReplyDeleteYes I have been hearing about it on the news, scale of course is different, people grumble in this country, how everything comes to a halt when snow and ice appears. But it is fairly rare and that is why we are not always up to the mark. What you do see though is great kindness as people help each other.
DeleteIt is marginally better here today. I have been into town and eaten fish and chips in a restaurant with friend W. We were beginning to get cabin fever so it gave us a welcome break.
ReplyDeleteFancy a decent meal of fish and chips. Our friends go to the Magpie in Whitby now that it has reopened after the fire. Apparently all the decoration is as it was before, not a jot has been changed.
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