Sunday 4 March 2018

Walking Round in Circles

We’re still in the firm grip of cold weather here. Time seems to have got lost in an eternal flurry of white and grey lately; and if not for a few photos I’ve quite lost count of which days were the coldest, the windiest, the snowiest, the iciest or the sunniest. Most of the time when I’ve been out I’ve had to keep my eyes firmly fixed on the ground and my mind on being very careful with each step – plus, with winter gloves (mitten type) and two Nordic Walking poles, the camera is not really easy to handle. But that said, here are some photos anyway. 

The first lot is from 21st February, just after we had had quite a lot of fresh snow coming down “all at once”. While the city has the resposibiity for clearing the major roads and streets, with the sidewalks the responsibility lies with the property owners. This can make a short walk around a few blocks quite a varied challenge. Every now and then I do take up that challenge, though; and sometimes even with the camera.


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Taken from a bridge over the railway.

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Advertising sign for ice-cream, outside a small corner shop.
(I wonder how much ice-cream they sell in February?)

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A sculpture in the park on the estate where I live: a boy balancing on the back of a turtle. Just now he looks more like he’s riding a snowboard…


The second lot is from a few days later, the 26th – cold, but with enough sun to make shadows.

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Still not feeling quite in picnic mood, though – thanks.

There were the tracks; crossing over each other here, getting muddled up with each other there; but quite plainly, every now and then, the tracks of four sets of paws.

‘I think,’ said Piglet, when he had licked the tip of his nose too, and found that it brought very little comfort, ‘I think that I have just remembered something that I forgot to do yesterday and shan’t be able to do to-morrow. So I suppose I really ought to go back and do it now.’

(from ‘Pooh and Piglet nearly catch a Woozle’)



My Town Shoot Out



10 comments:

  1. Oh, I know you must be looking forward to some warmer weather, winter can be so tiring. Stay safe on your walks.

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    1. Thanks Janet. It's (literally) a balance act between "staying safe" and getting a little bit of air and exercise now and then... ;)

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  2. I love the first set from the 21st, they say BRRRRRR without saying a single word. they LOOK cold .... love that house in the first one. and the clown pop of color. the second set are beautiful and look a little warmer. the playground is so beautiful in the bright sunshine. you are brave and really talented to get photos with mittens on.

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    1. Sandra, if memory serves me right, I think the temperature was milder on the first occasion here, and colder on the second... (A clear sky often means low temperatures here in winter. Luckily this does not apply throughout the whole year, though!)

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  3. The first house is so lovely. And I love the snowy tracks! You are beyond brave to venture out when it is like this! I would be cowering in the house, ordering food. It is the same here. The city is responsible for the street, and the property owners for the sidewalks in their front. There is a law for shops. They have to be shoveled and walkable in the front within a certain number of hours. If not, I suppose they get clobbered with a shovel. The third picture is lovely, and I bet those houses are expensive. The boy statue looks like he is slipping on the ice! He needs your poles. The ice-cream clown in the snow is funny, I wonder if they are open in the winter. I suppose they are, or the sign would be inside.

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    1. Ginny, I'm very thankful for the possibility nowadays to stay in and order food online, with home delivery. I make use of it regularly and it makes all the difference. It's not often now that I "have to" go out in bad weather. I can choose when to go out, and I can go for short walks without having to carry heavy bags as well.

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  4. These are again great pictures; I really enjoy "walking with you" around your town, Monica!
    The little boy does indeed look as if he's snowboarding :-)
    Ice cream in February? Not for me... unless it is for dessert after a nice cosy dinner at home with O.K. We sometimes enjoy Maple Walnut ice cream with a bit of Bailey's poured on top on the weekend.
    My sister is of the type who would eat ice cream any time of year, no matter how cold outside. Here in Ludwigsburg, the ice cream parlours have opened on the 1st of March, and some people have already been - not me.

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    1. Meike, ice cream as dessert at home is one thing - outdoors quite another :) I avoid having any stored in my freezer though (at least in winter), which means that this time of year I'm not tempted!

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  5. That is a wonderful set of pictures giving a quite new and different view of your city.

    I had quite forgotten those words that Piglet uttered. I shall remember them. They will inevitably come in very handy.

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  6. Graham, the photos were all taken within a few hundred meters or so from where I live... The winter snow and ice brings quite a change to the "cityscape" though - not only visually, but also by making all distances feel a lot longer!

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