Ou sont les neiges d’antan? Well they have gone for at least a while and for the first time in ten days we have action on the solar panels and people are moving about outside.
A1 is rereading Black Widow by Chris Brookmyre. A2 is rereading The Mind’s Eye by Hakan Nesser.
Tag: snow
Frost
Happy birthday Faye.
Icy cylinders on the dustbin lid. One day the snow will go.
A2 is reading Gliff by Ali Smith.
Critter of the Day: Sturnus vulgaris
A starling all puffed up against the cold. It’s still snowy and icy.
A1 is reading Karla’s Choice by Nick Harkaway. A Le Carré novel by Le Carré junior, which competently plugged a gap in Smiley’s story in a suitably complicated fashion.
Still Snowy
It is still freezing cold, ice everywhere, lethally slippery pavements. A1 had to go to work in the horrible conditions and said it was like walking over crisps. A2 only went as far as the dustbin, wearing crampons and holding onto the wall, and noticed that the snowperson population had increased.
A1 is reading I will Find the Key* by Alex Ahndoril. A2 is reading The City and Its Uncertain Walls by Haruki Murakami (thx A1).
Wood Nymph
I looked out the window and what did I see?
A hole in a tree and a face looking out at me!
A1 is reading Midnight and Blue by Ian Rankin. A2 is reading The Traitor by Jorn Lier Horst. For a change, Wisting’s daughter doesn’t get kidnapped. His granddaughter gets kidnapped instead.
Snowy Sunday
We’ve had 13cm of snow today and next-door’s kids have made a very traditional snowperson on the traffic island.
The family slogged here through the wintry weather for a dinner of meat loaf with potatoes, sprouts and pico pizzas for the mini people, followed by a reprise of last year’s Christmas pudding ice cream bombe.
We missed the Quadrantids and yesterday evening’s occultation of Saturn by the Moon due to the miserable weather. And oh dear, we scored 7 on the first GSQ of the year. The snow is turning to rain and we’ve registered over 50mm so far this month. Things can only get wetter.
Storm Bert
We woke to a blanket of snow and subzero temperatures; now at 11pm it’s 14.1°C and steadily rising. In between we’ve had 25.8 mm of rain and, thanks to the snow and subsequent gloom, a grand total of zero watt hours on the solar panels. Weather: exciting innit?
A2 is rereading This Poison Will Remain by the inestimable Fred Vargas.
Snow Fox Trot
Earliest snow on our records and a fox comes exploring in a winter wonderland with the colours of Hokusai’s Wave.
A2 is reading The Labyrinth House Murders* by Yukito Ayatsuji. Just like in Ink Ribbon Red* (qv) a birthday party host orders his guests to write a murder story involving themselves (it’s a 60th birthday, the guests are professional crime writers and there is a big prize at stake — but still). Where do they get their crazy ideas?
Snow Bird
A robin rehearsing for a Christmas card in today’s wintry weather.
A1 is reading Pulpit Rock* by Kate Rhodes, another Scilly crime story with KR’s usual idiot plot. A2 is rereading Smoke and Whispers by Mick Herron.
Jay Peg
Haven’t seen any of these lovely colourful crows for five years but have seen several in the last few days, raiding next-door’s bird feeders in the snow and freezing fog.
A2 is reading Someone to Watch Over Me* by Yrsa Sigurdardottir.
We had curry followed by trifle for our family meal and scored 11 on the GSQ
First Snow of the Winter
It snowed last night, exactly six years since we last had November snow.
This month has been the second coldest and third wettest November on our records but the solar panels had an average output.
A2 is reading You Will Never Be Found* by Tove Alsterdal, heinous crimes in abandoned buildings in a Northern Swedish winter, with a sunny cornfield as the cover illustration for some reason.
Snow Cat
This morning we woke to a winter wonderland. Cheers Storm Larisa.
The weather station was a bit under the weather
but by afternoon it had mostly melted. The staff at Alley Cats Cafe Bar and Music Emporium had managed to keep their cat snow sculpture intact in an impressive act of maintenance while all around everything was dripping.
Admin1 is reading Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell.
Red Red Robin
It’s raining, it’s snowing, it’s coming and going. It’s melted and gone — oh no, it’s back on!
Admin1 is rereading Europe at Dawn by Dave Hutchinson. Admin2 is reading The Innocent by Ian McEwan.
April Foul
Snow again, cold again. It will probably improve.
March was averagely warm, averagely wet and slightly above averagely sunny.
Admin1 is reading 56 Days by Catherine Ryan Howard. Admin2 is reading The Doll by Yrsa Sigurdasdotter.
Happy Birthday Gez
It rained and snowed and hailed and sleeted today, with sunshine in between, and stayed freezing cold throughout. It might as well be spring.
Admin1 is reading A Matter of Time by Claire Askew. Admin2 is reading The Soul Breaker by Sebastian Fitzek, a weird book about an amnesiac encountering an outbreak of unconsciousness in a psychiatric clinic.
Storm Eunice
Blow blow followed by snow snow.
Storm Eunice was the worst this century in this country but the worst we saw were a few flattened fences and all that happened to us was that the cover blew off one of our ventilators.
Admin1 is rereading ‘salem’s Lot by Stephen King.
Winter Wonderland
It unexpectedly snowed again today; the temperature was -3.2 °C last night and did not get higher than 1.3 °C today. We had a lovely family meal as the sparkling flakes fell all around outside and scored 12 on the GSQ.
Admin1 is reading Still Life by Val McDermid. Admin2 is reading Beloved Poison by ES Thomson.
Storm Arwen
After Black Friday, white Saturday. Admin2 woke in the early morning to find white stuff blowing all over the place in the raging winds. We’ve had over 25mm of assorted precipitation (snow, sleet, rain, hail, graupel and diamond dust) today and the day is not over yet [update: total was 26.1mm, which is half all the rainfall we’ve had this monh]. And along with Arwen we have Omicron. Happy days.
Admin1 is reading Surgeons’ Hall by ES Thomson.
Spring Unsprung
Winter is back and we don’t even know how cold it is.
Admin1 is reading Never Forget by Michel Bussi. Admin2 is reading Voices Beyond by Johan Theorin.
We scored 8 on the GWQ. Could have been worse.
Déjà vu
Not a photo from today, when it was freezing cold and precipitating snow, ice and graupel, but from April 4 2012 when we wrote:
“Hard to believe that a week ago we had daytime temperatures of over 25 degrees, and that three days ago the solar panels served up over 8 kilowatts…”
Plus ça change plus c’est la même chose!
Staring out my window, to the street below, on a freshly fallen silent shroud of snow
This was the best we got from Storm Arsey Darcy.
Admin1 is reading Foxglove Summer by Ben Aaronovitch. Admin2 is reading The Salt Marsh by Clare Carson.
Oh no! No snow!
And the weather forecast looked so promising!
Admin1 is reading Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch and Admin2 is reading Exit by Belinda Bauer.
We scored 9 on the GWQ — PROPS TO BOB!!! who knew the answer to ‘What is threatened by the crown-of-thorns starfish?’.
Winter Wonderland
Admin2 woke in the night to a bright yellow sky and snow falling everywhere. This is how it looked this morning but it’s melting away now, leaving a pair of decomposing snowpeople on the traffic island.
Admin1 is reading The October Man by Ben Aaronovitch. Admin2 is reading Slough House by Mick Herron.
The Snows Are Melted, the Snows Are Gone
But here is someone’s very smart snowperson from the other day.
Admin1 is reading Whiskey Tango Foxtrot by David Shafer. Admin2 is reading The Return by Hakan Nesser.
And we scored up to 8.5 on the GWQ. Oh dear.
Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow
But why did it have to do it on the day when Admin2 was due for a covid vaccination?
And here are the visiting sharks and tigers:
Today was our first zero-watt day on the solar panels since a snowy spell in early March, 2018.
Admin1 is reading The Fourth Victim by Mari Jungstedt and Admin2 is rereading White Tears by Hari Kunzru.