Saturday 3 March 2018

The Beast from the East




We don't get a lot of snow down here on the Solent, so a proper wintry blast from some door left open in Eastern Europe is a mixed blessing.

On the one hand, it totally messes with the transport network. Had my partner not wisely decided to stay at home, the train she would have taken back from Waterloo broke down halfway back, and the passengers had to spend the night on board, with no food, heat, or lighting. Similarly, travellers on the New Forest's A31 were stuck overnight in their cars, because of jack-knifed lorries blocking the route both ways. And my daughter has been forced to spend an extra day and a half in Amsterdam with her boyfriend, all at the expense of EasyJet, because of a cancelled flight. It's tough all over.




On the other hand, what better way to have some fun, say, than to get an unusual photographic angle on some familiar landscapes? Or, for the young and reckless with their unbreakable bodies, sliding down any available slope on an improvised sledge? I particularly enjoyed the ironic juxtaposition of the artificial ski-slope in the Sports Centre – still in action, with its clanking ski-lift – with the surrounding acres of real snow, swarming with whooping snowboarders and sledgers.


4 comments:

Dave Leeke said...

“...all at the expense of EasyJet”:

Really? Blimey I had no idea there was a human heart beating anywhere in the upper echelons of that dreadful company.

Mike C. said...

Dave,

Yep, it's there in the terms and conditions, and by BOAC, they're honouring it!

Mike

Paul Mc Cann said...

It has outstayed its welcome. We still cant get a car out to the road and nary a sign of a snow plough to clear the road anyway. Cabin fever is setting in. Even my three year old grand daughter is fed up with it now but thankfully she is 4 miles away.

Mike C. said...

Paul,

It's nearly all melted here, but I was shocked to see on the news last night the west-country villages with snow up to the top of the signposts blocking all access. Hopefully yours will be gone soon, too.

Mike