Saturday 9 February 2013

Snow Joke

Yes, folks, it's coming back again.
Heavy snow forecast.


This photo was actually taken about three years ago, when I was walking home from work. The buses and trams had all stopped running, so I had no option but to walk. Sheffield is built on seven hills, and I had walked up and down two of them by the time I got here. As you can imagine, I was feeling very sorry for myself, but at least it had stopped snowing, and I just stood there knee deep (I'm not very tall) in snow, and admired the scenery around me.

I wasn't taking a shortcut through the countryside, by the way. This is the rear entrance to Birley Spa, an Ancient Roman spa that now sits in the middle of a housing estate. In Roman times, the water was believed to have healing properties; today it comes with an 'elf and safety' warning. In Victorian times, the pond, then used as a boating lake, and the adjacent woodland were a popular tourist attraction, the Disneyland of their day.

I visited the spa several ago, first time since my childhood. As a child, a very small child, yes even smaller than I am now, I remember paddling in the nearby stream, full of frogs and water voles. I never saw the pond then, because the man who lived in the spa house always kept children well away from it. Very wise of him, although I didn't appreciate it at the time.

Anyway, back to the recent visit. The spa has been renovated. You know the sort of thing, Roman marble columns patched up with concrete. Although it is now a Grade II listed building, so future work should be more in keeping with the old building. As well as seeing the pond for the first time, I also went under the spa house to see the actual Roman spa. Unfortunately, the stream has been concreted over and now runs underground.


Saw this in the garden today, a Goldcrest. The first time I ever saw one was last year, amongst a flock of goldfinches, but this one came alone. It stayed in the garden for a couple of hours, undeterred by the blue tits who were constantly chasing it off the feeders. The only problem with seeing unusual birds at this time of year is that they are usually an indicator of bad weather to come. Have I mentioned the snow ?

And finally, totally off topic, I thought I'd just give a mention to the High Speed train service that has just been announced this week; due to arrive in Sheffield in twenty years time. Somehow the phrases 'high speed' and 'twenty years' don't sit well together do they ?  And, apparently, the proposed train route runs straight across Sheffield Airport's runway. Now that is going to be one amazing level-crossing.

14 comments:

  1. Pretty snow photo, it does look way out in the countryside. You are getting so much snow this year while we have been quite mild. Pretty Goldcrest. All your feeders are attracting a lovely and varied group of birds now.

    At least they have twenty years to work out the runway conflict. If not, that will be quite a ride to guess which has right-of-way.

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    1. It will probably be safer to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel than take off from Sheffield airport in twenty years time.

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  2. We had snow this morning but it was very wet and it didn't settle - I did manage to slip though and fall flat on my back - not very ladylike. Goldcrest are beautiful little birds, don't think I have seen one this year.

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    1. I had some Winter Trax on my shoes to stop me slipping in snow and ice, but they don't work in shopping malls. Forgot to take them off, and did an amazing pirouette as I walked through the entrance. Didn't actually fall down, but still felt quite a fool.

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  3. It certainly looks like the depths of the countryside, a pretty scene. Maybe the forecasters will have it wrong we were threatened with it too but so far only rain. Wow, I'm very impressed and rather envious about that lovely little Goldcrest, I've never seen one in my garden, what a treat!

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    1. The Goldcrest keeps coming back every day. Will be interesting to see if it stays in milder weather.

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  4. Zima nie chce odejść niestety od nas też. Pięknie to wygląda, ale już jej dość. Śliczny ptaszek odwiedził Twój ogródek. Pozdrawiam.
    Winter does not want to go away from us, unfortunately, too. It looks beautiful, but its enough. Pretty bird visited your garden. Yours.

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  5. Love your comments about the high speed rail service. Needs a little more planning with the airport I would think! And, yes, I agree 20 years and high speed in the same sentence - doesn't fit in my brain!

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    1. I don't think they'd thought it through. Unless they thought that by the time the track was built, technology would have come up with a solution.

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  6. Hope you are doing all right with all the snow, we got half and inch here in London, needless to say, that's going to create chaos on tomorrow morning's rush traffic...

    I feel sorry for all the people affected by the new trainline, I do wonder sometimes how much is gained by all this building work - and how much is lost.

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    1. We got a very heavy snowfall on Wednesday that caused absolute chaos. Now it's like spring.

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  7. We were forecast snow but none yet. I think Northern Ireland has got of easy this year.

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    1. We're hoping that we've had our last snowfall of the winter.

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