Ice and Frost

The past few days have been bitterly cold (at least by the standards of this country!)

Tuesday was horrible - lots of ice, and fog. However, Wednesday was very different -  I drove into work in sunshine, and as there was a very heavy hoar frost it was a drive through beautiful scenes.

I saw a group of roe deer in one of the fields - I haven't seen them much recently, so that cheered me up.

I had to drive across from one of our offices to another at lunch time, so I took a few minutes to stop and admire the scenery (particularly as the sun came out again) Despite it being mid day, very little of the frost had melted, and the trees looked as though it had snowed.

 It was almost lovely enough to make one forget just how brass-monkeys cold it was!

Ice and snow

Winter has arrived properly, now - we have had several nights with temps of -5 or -6 (Celsius, but this is Southern England, it counts as really cold) and thick frosts.

This morning I walked into town to go to the library - it's National Libraries Day, although the Library didn't appear to have any special events on.

The decorative pond in the park had icy teeth around its perimeter, and an isolated few icicles above where the fountain plays.

The pond was full of ice-bubbles.

I hadn't planned it, but as I went past the butchers it occurred to me that in this kind of weather, one should be eating hearty, warming stews, so I popped in for some steak, which is now in the slow but glorious process of being transformed into Boeuf Bourguinon.

Walking home, it occurred to me that when it is this cold, almost every bird one sees is a robin..   I must have seen 6 or 7 of them altogether.

Admittedly, I did also see some swans, regal and monochrome on the stream.

And shortly after I returned home, it started to snow. It seems to be settling, and I am determined to stay safe and snug inside. Fortunately I did grocery shopping yesterday, so I have food, and beer, and toilet roll, and cat food, so we should be fine even if the snow is still here tomorrow.

And of course, having been to the library, I also have a good supply of as-yet-unread books.

it could be worse. . .

the Birds Are Flying High Tonight

Last night I headed over into deepest Somerset in order to collect our Christmas turkey, which has been wandering around the farm, eating all sorts of interesting things, flying*  and generally doing turkey things, for most of the last 6 -7 months. 

Last weekend, it was called to its forefathers, and last night I went to get its mortal remains, which will be translated into glory on Christmas Day.

The drive over was fine - one or two icy patches on the roads, and some interesting patterns of drifted snow on some of the walls and hedges.

However, arriving in the village, things were a little different. There was absolutely no way I could have got up the lane to J's farm - it is narrow, twisty, and has very unforgiving stone walls and cliffs up both sides, so instead I walked up, and J, out of the kindness of her heart, walked down to meet me:

SCENE:  An Icy lane, by moonlight.

FIRST MYSTERIOUS FIGURE:        Hello
SECOND MYSTERIOUS FIGURE:  (Cradling a swaddled bundle) We must stop meeting like this.
FMF:         You know why I'm here
SMF:         Yes .
FMF:          Do you have it?
SMF:          I do.  (Hands over swaddled bundle) 

They part.                  

I wonder whether cold war spies did this. I felt I ought to be giving a password.                      

*Turkeys are not the most aerodynamic of birds, but if you have a turkey-house at the top of a steepish slope, and the kitchen garden at the bottom, they can show you one hell of a glide. There is nothing like being dive-bombed by low-flying turkeys to reconcile one to the prospect of eating them, I can tell you!

In Which Further Blizzards Fail to Materialise

At the risk of tempting fate, and calling down further snow upon us, it seems that the additional snow forecast for this afternoon has held off - it was quite overcast so didn't appear to be anything like as cold as it was yesterday or on Friday.

Indeed, by mid afternoon it looked as though the street outside was clearer than it has been since it first snowed, on Wednesday, with patches where the ashphalt is visible again, and a lot of people seem to have gone out so there were fewer parked cars. I decided to see whether I could safely drive out to the main(er) road, on the bass that if I could, I could park overnight and then, even if it freezes again overnight I would be close enough to the treated roads to get out and be able to get to work.

My plan worked, and as the road was completely clear when I got to the end of the street, I decided to go a little further, and drove over to Bradford-on-Avon, where I went for a short wander along by the canal.

The canal (The Kennet & Avon) was frozen, although there were places, by the lock, under bridges, and where a small stream drains into it where it was not frozen - there were also places where the ice had been broken and refrozen - it looked at thought the ice was between 1" and 2" thick, and from the foot-prints in the slush on top of the ice it was clear that it was strong enough to bear the weight of the swans and other waterbirds., although various holes seems to show that it was not strong enough to bear the weight of various lumps of stone being heaved into it!

A little further down the canal one comes to the Tithe Barn, which was built in the early 1300s and used to belong to Shaftesbury Abbey, until Henry VIII pur a stop to all that, of course! It's a beautiful (and enormous) building, and it is one of those places where it tends suddenly to hit me how rich in history we are here: The barn dates from the 14th C, with the church having owned the farm & land since 1001, and the barn continued to be used, certainly into the 1950s...

I enjoyed my walk, and, in accordance with the original plan, subsequently left my car down the street, in the hope that I may be able to drive tomorrow morning..

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

Yesterday, the BBC started warning us that it was going to snow heavily. Initially, they said it would snow yesterday, which concened me as I was due to be in court, and had carefully taken the file with me (on the basis that even if I couldn't get into the office, I could walk to the station and get a train, to get to court, if need be)

However, no snow yesterday morning, and although it snowed a little as I came out of court, it didn't settle, and I was able to get back to the office, work until the normal time and get home without incident.

The forecast had been for snow in the afternoon and evening, so when I found myself on the way to bed at 11 p.m. with no sign of any snow, I concluded that the BBC had erred, and that I would, after all, have to get up and go to work as usual.

When the alarm went off I peered out of the window, assuming I would simply have the usual job of scraping ice of the car windscreen. However, it immediately became obvious that I wouldn't be going anywhere I couldn't get to on foot - we had between 3" and 4" of snow - more, I think, than we got last February - or at least more in one go.

It's probably a sign of advancing age that rather than leap out of bed and run out to play in the snow, I instead thought 'Hurrah!' and turned over to snuggle under the duvet for another hour! (although to be fair, not even the local children were out there in the blue morning light at 6 a.m)

As I made breakfast, I saw that the snowballers were out - including one (teenage boy, who else?) wearing jeans & T-shirt with no coat or gloves (I was wearing 3 layers and I was inside!) and another (pre-teen girl) in shortie pyjamas, dressing gown & Ugg boots!

Later in the morning their parents came out, and helped them to build a magnificant 8' tall snowman,

which will no doubt be with us for some time to come...

I went out a little later, in order to buy milk and chocolate HobNobs - it was unusally quiet - you tend not to notice the low hum of traffic in the background until it isn't there. There were a few people who had decided to venture out in their cars despite the snow - just enough of them to compact the snow from 4" of soft, fluffy snow (The kind that makes a creaking crunch when you step on it) into a solid block of ice.

I watched one car skate gracelessly into the kerb, wheels pointing 45 degrees from the direction of travel and spinning ineffectually. I think the driver had expected that (a) braking would cause him to slow down and (b) turning the wheel would allow him to turn right.

A second driver, behind him, decided that the sensible response to this was to accelerate and swing past him... I was very glad that I had not tried to move my car at all.

Even the more main roads were very slushy and icy, and as far as I could tell were clear(ish) as a result of traffic, not because they had been gritted.

I went for a little walk into the park and through the nature reserve on my way back from the minimarket, admiring the beautiful pictures the snow had painted on the trees and plants.

It started to thaw just a little this afternoon, but only enough to create a few icicles and, no doubt, ensure that the snow freezes and becomes even more slippery. We are predicted to have temperatures well below freezing overnight, so I am not at all sanguine about the prospect of reaching the office tomorrow, either. I did clear and salt the pavement immediately outside my house, but anticipate that the road will be too icy for it to be safe to drive, at least first thing.

We shall see.

Meanwhile, Tybalt has made it clear to me that he does not appreciate snow, that he disapproves of my poor management in allowing it to be snowy outside the back door, the front door and the window, all at the same time. I am not entirely satified that providing him with an indoor litter tray and and a new fleece to snuggle into has done enough to placate him...

I am not even going to think about the gas bill. I'd rather stay warm and worry about it later.

Pamukkale, winter catches up with us

Having spent most of the day at Aphrodsias our next stop was Pamukkale, which is the site of an extraordinary natural phenomenon, albeit one with added classical ruins. You will have to bear with me because my knowledge of geology is limited in the extreme, but what I do know is that there are hot springs, and the water / soil it flows through is rich in calcium, with the result that the springs deposit travertine (which seems to be a kind of chalk) on its way out. The result is a series of pools and odd formations, a little like land-locked clouds, covering the whole of one side of a hill above the town of Pamukkale. As I am coming to expect in Turkey, the Romans got here first, (In about 200 A.D) and built a spa town called Hieropolis at the top of the hill, where the springs are. There is also a cave which vents deadly poisonous gas, apparently, but these days you are no longer permitted to throw members of your party into it see whether the gods are feeling kindly disposed toward you….

They believed that only the eunuchs who served in the temple there were immune.

Until recently, visitors used to be allowed to bathe in the pools of travertine, but due to concerns about ecological damage this is no longer allowed, and you are also required to take off your shoes if you want to walk down the hill on the travertine.Having arrived at about 3.30, we started from the bottom and walked up: Bizarrely, there was no-one at the bottom to say we were supposed to have taken our shoes off, so we didn't. (But we were all wearing fairly soft soled shoes, so I don't think we would have done any more damage than in bare feet)It was getting dark by the time we got to the top, so after a quick look around and taking some atmospheric sunset pictures, we walked back down again - this time we did take our shoes off, which meant very chilly feet, as it was fairly cold to start with, due to the height and the time of year, and when you add to that the sun having gone down .

However, I'm sure that the chalk/travertine exfoliating pedicure will catch on soon, and the advantage to being cold is that once your feet start to go numb you don't notice the occasional pebble underfoot so much!It really is an extraordinary phenomenon.(It’s also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.) Pamukkale translates as ‘Cotton Castle’ and that’s a pretty good description of the way it looks from below. From further away, it is less impressive as it looks rather light an oversized quarry, until you get close enough to see the formations.

Having worked up healthy appetites with our brisk walk up and down the travertine, we headed back to our hotel (Nice, although not as quirky as the last one) – happily, K&C had had the foresight to prepare and bring some pre-mixed gin & tonic to sustain is as we changed and waited for supper. . .

We had not had time to look around Hieropolis, or to see or visit the antique pool, which is the one place you can now swim in the spa waters. We spent a lot of time during the evening debating whether to go back in the morning (influenced in part by the fact that this would mean paying the entrance fee a 2nd time, (20ytl (about £9 / $13) each, plus the same again for the pool itself)

However, we decided that it would be fun to do. Actually, to be completely honest, I decided that I would like to do it, and the other 2 agreed. Overnight, they changed from considering coming to watch, and mock, and take pictures, to deciding to come swimming too, and afterwards admitted that they were glad I had, as they were pleased to have done it, afterwards…

We were a little disconcerted when we came out of the hotel after breakfast to find ice on the car windscreen – considering that only a little over 48 hours earlier we had been sitting on the sea front in t-shirts drinking chilled beer. . . and of course more of a shock to K&C’s systems than to mine, as I was only enjoying a frost-free respite, whereas they have been in Turkey since September, and so it was their first frost of the winter. After a short detour to an ATM (as we discovered that the hotel didn’t take cards, and we had no cash – they must have decided that we did have honest faces, though, as they had no problem with all three of us plus our baggage disappearing to find an ATM, despite their knowing nothing of us but an e-mail address…) we went to the ‘top’ entrance to Hieropolis, where you can get in without having to walk all the way up the travetines again, and went in to the antique pool. The pool is an open air one and it on the site of the old Roman healing pools (The springs were, it would appear, believed to cure just about anything, and are still trumpeted as being good for you, a claim which is, to my mind, only slightly called into question by being displayed immediately under a big sign warning that youshouldn’t go in the pools if you have high blood pressure, heart problems, and a whole list of other symptoms. . .)

It still contains large chunks of the original masonry, so you can recline on original marble pillars while you bathe, if the fancy takes you.

As it was very cold, and the changing areas completely unheated, we changed extremely fast. I had discovered when backing for the road trip that I had only packed my skimpy ‘wearing into the Hamman’ bikini, not my swimming costume, and was regretting the loss of the few inches of extra coverage that this would have given, and the potentially lower heat loss as a result.

Then we got into the pool.

Where the water temp. is around 36-38 degrees centigrade (about 96-100 Fahrenheit). And it was wonderful.

As well as being hot, and full of (possibly healing) minerals, the water is absolutely crystal clear. For most of our swim, we had the pool to ourselves (there was one man, who I think may have been an employee, who was in the pool when we got in and for the first 15 minutes or so) It really was amazing.

When we got out, the chill was very noticeable, and we may have broken some world speed records for getting dry and changed. I have to say, though, that once out an dry it felt great – I’ve never had a proper Scandinavian, rolling in the snow sauna, but I suspect that may feel quite similar, and for much the same reasons!

We didn’t have time to visit the whole site at Hieropolis so contented ourselves with walking back down to the car-park, through the Necropolis – it would appear that the healing waters were not successful for every visitor, and so a lot of them ended up being buried here. For reasons of hygiene, no burials were allowed in the city of Hieropolis, so they are all in the Necropolis, and some have been engulfed by the travertine.

Odd.

But interesting.