Sunday 26.2.2017

With a rugby match to watch we cantered up the hill and round the woods at lunchtime managing to avoid the threatening rain which was clearly on its way

and finally arrived as England got its act together to beat Italy.
Now, after a final flurry of hail and sleet, it`s swept by and left a clear sky and plummeting temperatures.....ne`er cast a clout and all that (or as they say in these parts "ne`er cast a cloot `til May be `oot.)

Friday 24.02.2017

Oddly, though there was next to no wind, the cold was penetrating,freezing the forehead as if a very large ice-cream had been consumed too fast. Layers of head gear once more, jackets and gloves which this time remained on even in the woods.
Big D. passed us by, scattering a thin layer of snow which lingered today, icy and crunchy in places, soft and slippery in others. What with that, a watery sun casting watery reflections in the puddles

and the uniformly overcast sky,

it was a "proper", unforgiving winter`s day, good for walking - a little faster maybe than usual - and with moments of cheery sparkliness.

Wednesday 22.02.2017

Back to gloves, jacket and three layers of woolly head protection: sunny enough and dry but Big Doris has sent in her handmaidens to prepare the air for her arrival so we staggered up the hill into a force-silly wind and scampered into the woods for some respite.
Love this wild weather as well as the panic in the radio presenter`s voice just now that the forthcoming snow "might move as far south as the home-counties borders"......how very dare it!

We could probably have hitched a ride home on the clouds if they`d dropped a tad lower.

Meanwhile thanks to https://twitter.com/anna_e_fisk for pointing me in the direction of https://brianbilston.com/

Better to discover late than never .....

AS I GROW OLD I WILL MARCH NOT SHUFFLE
As I grow old
I will not shuffle to the beat
of self-interest
and make that slow retreat
​​​to the right.

I will be a septuagenarian insurrectionist
marching with the kids. I shall sing
‘La Marseillaise’, whilst brandishing
homemade placards that proclaim
‘DOWN WITH THIS SORT OF THING’.

I will be an octogenarian obstructionist,
and build unscalable barricades
from bottles of flat lemonade,
tartan blankets and chicken wire.
I will hurl prejudice upon the brazier’s fire.

I will be a nonagenarian nonconformist,
armed with a ballpoint pen
and a hand that shakes with rage not age
at politicians’ latest crimes,
in strongly-worded letters to The Times.

I will be a centenarian centurion
and allow injustice no admittance.
I will stage longstanding sit-ins.
My mobility scooter and I
will move for no-one.

And when I die
I will be the scattered ashes
that attach themselves to the lashes
and blind the eyes
of racists and fascists.

Friday 17.2.2017

Another optimistically joyous late winter/early spring day. Breeze a bit nippier but beautifully warm in the sun, blue with streaks and flecks of white overhead, still and quiet in the woods.....



......apart, that is, from the thunderous hoofbeats of deer hotly pursued by dogs, both parties apparently fully aware that the likelihood of the one catching the other is less than zero. Ditto the equally fruitless chasing of rabbits, hares and pheasants and frantic scrabbling at the ground in search of small hairy beasts. Honour satisfied all round and lots of fun for all concerned.

So let`s see - (i) Vitamin D dose - check
(ii) Serotonin boost - check
(iii) Friday wee dram? Well, as they say, "It`s 5 o`clock somewhere".

Wednesday 15.02.2017

Spring skittered in today for a quick look round. Frost lingering where the sun hadn`t penetrated but it was warm in it, t-shirt and hatless after three layers of headgear and jacket only a few days ago. Snowdrops and daffodils shot up another few centimetres and birds were all a-twitter. The only thing not yet present were lambs and woodpeckers but it can only be a matter of time if it stays like this.

Sunday 12.2.2017

A nondescript winter`s day...or so it seemed. Grey and cold as we set off up the road at a bit of a gallop (wanting to be back for the rugby, pity about Scotland) but of course no such thing as nondescript out there. True it was grey but the cloud was quite high, there was the occasional glimpse of blue and the sun kept making gallant efforts to break through, bathing everything in that distinctive slightly creamy winter light.

And yes, it was cold, a nippy breeze slicing at the ears, but it kept us striding out with a bit of yogic type breathing - well deep breaths anyway - detoxing the lungs...and no doubt the brain.

Still on a bit of a high anyway after seeing the delightful Madeleine Peyroux (http://madeleinepeyroux.com/) in Edinburgh last night at the Queen`s Hall which in itself was a revelation as a venue. The evening included a bit of a mystery bus ride (yes H. - buses again!), therefore getting lost, walking miles but then finding the hall with time to spare for a very good pre-gig supper at 10 to 10 in Delhi just along the street.

Celtic Connections in Glasgow was brilliant but last night I fell in love with Edinburgh all over again.

And for the rest of the day?
I read this
http://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/top-stories/a_weaker_more_hostile_craven_intolerant_country_did_anyone_vote_for_that_1_4873801

and this

http://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/top-stories/the_idea_that_brexit_will_release_britain_into_a_world_of_free_trade_is_delusional_1_4881725

and watched this

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b08fjlvx/terry-pratchett-back-in-black

Will definitely try being "more Terry" from now on. :)

Friday 10.2.2017

Warm in the sun, icy out of it, icing-sugar snow clinging to the trees and sprinkled on the ground in patches after yesterday`s showers.



Dramatic skies

and stark winter silhouettes.

Wednesday 01.02.2017

The cloud and mist have been sweeping backwards and forwards all day on the back of a brisk wind, affording the occasional glimpse of a pale blue sky but mostly shrouding everything in grey. So when we set off at about 10 to 4, the latest this year,it was gloomy,nay,quite dreich even, as they say in these parts. By the time we were coming back down the hill,the mist had descended again and the gates had set up an eerie wailing in the rising wind, the whole landscape thus transformed into the setting for dastardly deeds of one kind or another.
Ah well, as one doughty old philosopher-farmer once pointed out stocially, "It is February." Indeed.

Meanwhile, book of the month is Nobody by Marc Lamont-Hill:not what you`d call an easy read but is informative, informed and a bit of a mind-blower. Includes a telling and currently significant examination of the notion of running a country as if it`s a business. Required reading in fact. :)