December 30th 2010

TGI Fridays

As I spent the first several months of 2010 living in Cheltenham, I stayed no more than a few hundred yards from this restaurant. Many Fridays, after a long commute and/or a difficult week at work, I thought I might take this photo for this blog, but each time a different alternative came up, and I kept this “in reserve”.

So now, I’m finally posting this photograph, but I’m living over 100 miles away, and it’s a Thursday …

Instead I’m posting this for a completely different reason, as today we enjoyed a family meal, with Claire, James and Sophie all enjoying the company of my parents, sister, brother-in-law and family as we met up for Christmas. It really felt like a look into the future as we all enjoyed our meals in a child-friendly environment and all got to know each other just a little bit more. I hope that as 2010 ends that Claire, James and Sophie really feel part of my family now – amazing to think, given how 2010 began.

December 25th 2010

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to you all – here is my festive image for the day.

Presents opened, lunch cooked and eaten, and my first Christmas as part of a new family successfully survived and enjoyed. Here’s to many more.

 

December 24th 2010

Final journey

A theme of this year’s blog has been the long journeys into work, whether winding through the Cotswolds or taking the long motorway drive down through the Midlands. Today will be the last, and it’s marked by the snow in Leamington Spa – roads still slushy and pavements still white from the earlier snow.

It would be nice to think that as well as the last commute of the year it is also the last snow of the year but time will tell …

December 22nd 2010

Blackbird

Thanks to overnight snow and icy roads, today was another day working from home. One thing that struck me was that when the snow hit a couple of weeks ago, most of the garden birds were nowhere to be seen. But this time they are back – poor birds have nowhere to hide.

I managed to load up the bird tables with food and in a quick moment got a snap of this blackbird struggling on the snowy fence. I would love to have a better snap but unfortunately the priority was working and not photographing.

December 20th 2010

It’s back …

I’m referring to snow, of course, although fortunately we have just about avoided it in Derbyshire. But this time, it’s made it to Leamington Spa. The downside is a long trawl through icy roads in the town at the end of my commute. But the upside is walking through crisp, white snow when I take my walk at lunch.

December 15th 2010

Leamington by Night

Today was the work Christmas party – held at a restaurant in Leamington Spa. It was a great meal and a nice afternoon to take the mind off work pressures (and cost of boilers) but not a chance to let my hair down completely. The 75 mile drive home puts paid to that idea …

December 9th 2010

Northbound

Today’s photo is from the food hall at Donington Services on the M1. But what am I doing here?

The fact remains that my commute doesn’t get any easier, and some days, however much I want to get home, for whatever reason, the eyes get heavier and I need to stop. Service stations on the motorway are soulless places, and, as can be seen in this particular example, sometimes quite empty. Today I just wanted to get home but safety had to come first.

I should add that the day wasn’t all bad – James loved his birthday (I think) and yesterday’s cake went down a treat. There were better photos than this, not least of candles lit and the same cake out of its box, but this blog won’t always be a record of the nicest, most glamorous or most exciting thing that happens each day.

December 7th 2010

Hoar Frost

One thing I’ve learned about this photo blog is it’s all about timing – this cold snap has produced some amazing weather and amazing scenes, but it’s all about getting the photo at the optimum time. On Friday, I snapped some good-looking icicles, only to venture out the next day and see them far larger and more impressive. Yesterday I took a snapshot of an incredible minus 12 degrees, only to get into the car this morning on the way to work and see it showing minus 13 …

Today’s photo is from outside my workplace, “down South”. While the village here is still stricken with several inches of snow and dangerous compacted ice, it has all cleared in Warwickshire. However, with such low temperatures the frost has lingered throughout the day to give amazing shimmering trees and vegetation throughout the day. Today’s photo is just one example, taken as I walked to lunch, but given my expert sense of timing, expect a far more impressive and photogenic hoar frost tomorrow to go unphotographed …

December 5th 2010

More digging

As today’s title indicates – yesterday’s digging was only half the job. Today involved going down to the bottom of the hill onto a different road, where Claire’s car had been abandoned since Tuesday. The job for today was to make sure both cars are now mobile for tomorrow. It’s certainly been a great way to meet new neighbours, even if the time taken has been lengthened somewhat due to the need on several occasions to trundle up to a stricken vehicle and push.

Today’s photo shows the view from here of the icy white road stretching off into the distance. The ice itself is solid and immovable, a couple of inches thick now. Once you’re on it. you stay on it, grip the steering wheel in hope, and make sure you stay on it!

December 4th 2010

Digging

There’s no getting around it – sooner or later I am going to need to get out of this house, or, more to the point, drive away from it. A large amount of today was spent digging, clearing the driveway and digging a path free for the car, just to give myself that fighting chance for Monday.

Today’s photo shows just how deep the snow was – there’s little doubt it was about 18 inches where it lay undisturbed. It also shows a hand-held shovel-type implement with a smooth metal blade I used for moving the snow. I like to call it a spade.