Three Freezing Days

Its been a very, very cold three days with a mixed bag of weather. Monday we thought we had better make our Christmas visit to the Cemetery in Spalding to put a wreath on 'Himselfs" Ma and Step Pa's Memorial stone. The morning was cold -8 when I got up and everywhere was a white out with a hoar frost covering everything. We wrapped up well to keep out the cold and set off. By the time we reached the other side of Peterborough we had hit thick fog. Undaunted we carried on. The fog lifted just slightly and briefly around lunch time but soon descended again. The temperature never got above -6 degrees with a chill factor of several degrees lower all day. The only good thing about the cold frost was the roads were clean and clear.

The cemetery was an eerie place, the white frost piercing the grey gloom of the fog.

We didn't linger this visit, too cold, and we decided not to go for a wander around the town this time either. Even the River Welland had frozen over through the town. The butchers where we usually stock up on our favourite sausages was closed. Strange to be closed in Christmas week. I expect they'll be heaving on Friday with every one collecting their Christmas meat orders. Dissapointed we decided to head for Market Deeping for a warming Fish and Chip lunch at the River Restaurant.

The Boundary Fish and Chip take away has been on this site for many years . Its called the Boundary because it sits astride the Parish boundary of Market Deeping and Deeping St. James The ever so slightly posh River restaurant behind the Chip shop is a fairly recent addition. It looks out over the river Welland and I guess it's nice in the summer but today the partially frozen river looked too murky and cold.

Tuesday dawned cold and frosty but no fog. The sun soon broke through the high cloud cover and made the hoar frosted trees look breathtakingly beautiful.

I had lots of jobs to do today. First a visit to the New City Hospital once more. Parking is a nightmare still but I managed the Disable parking bay this time. My passenger has a valid Disable badge but on the previous two visits there the traffic visiting the new premises were all unsure about parking so it was total chaos.

The new Costas coffee cafe had opened since my last visit so armed with my Kindle a cappuccino and a festive toasted brie and cranberry pannini I waited on a comfy sofa while my friend had her Physio session.

My swimming friend took this photo of the Lido and Cathedral from the cycle track on the river embankment.

Wednesday morning we woke to a fresh covering of snow. I suppose we can't complain as all week the rest of the country has been struggling with several inches of snow. We've only been freezing. By mid morning the snow was coming down heavily. It continued snowing until mid afternoon when the sun managed a brief appearance.

Today I had a lunch date at a friend house. My fellow diners are all the early morning Lido regulars and as one of our group is now wheel chair bound with limited movement we asked David from 'Sundays', the cafe we have our coffee after swimming , to provide our lunch. He arrived with a hot, full festive Christmas roast dinner and stayed to carve and serve the meat. Not many cafe owners would do that.

Our friends live by the river and their sitting room overlooks a marina cut away from the River Nene. They have a little wildlife haven in front of their window. In the summer a visiting seal who swam in from the Wash was not too popular with the fishermen around but provided entertainment for the homeowners. Today the river is frozen over and the resident Moorhen population are running all over the ice trying to find open water to swim in for food.

I expect we'll now have another white Christmas. My Christmas roses in the garden were looking as if they would be just right for picking for my festive table decoration, but now with the frost delaying them and the snow covering the emerging flower buds there will be no chance for the cheerful little flowers gracing our table this year. We're having a quite Christmas this year with just the two of us. Still no festive baubles have been retrieved from the depths of the attic but the cards are all adorning their usual place in the conservatory.

The Freeze Returns

The Christmas preparations at No 20 progress at a snails pace. All the purchasing is done. The cheats way of course, cards for the Queensgate shops. So much better than getting gifts that are politely received and quietly stuffed in a draw! No decorations have appeared though, just the festive cards blue tacked up around the conservatory windows.

Yesterday we went for morning coffee at the Farm shop and bought our festive meat to cover the holiday period. It was snowing as we drove out there and was settling at a disturbing rate but luckily it stopped quite quickly. All the heavy snowfalls of the last few days have missed us as usual. The frosts are bad enough.

All the hard work we put in cleaning and repairing the pond for the winter have been in vain. The water is escaping at a worrying rate after this last few nights of freezing temperatures. The ice sits over an empty space as under it as the water levels drop. We are at a loss as what to do. The little wooden bridge has given way as well so much that its not safe to walk over any more.

I think theres a distinct possibility of there being no pond, just a water feature, by the spring. We're getting too old to keep up the maintenance it requires

There's a little Pied Wagtail bobbing about on the ice. It slithered and skated right across the pond looking for water to drink, just before I took this photo. Below the squirrel masters the art of eating the bird food while contentedly swinging. The large box of 'out of date' biscuits 'Himself' brought home from EN offices are being ground down into crumbs along with some peanuts and are being pecked up at speed as soon as it put out in the mornings

A Break in the Weather

We're slowly getting infected with the spirit of Christmas, but still not enough to get in the attic and dig for the decorations. The cards are all made, addressed and posted. Just a few local ones to complete now. A trip into the city is planned next week to finish the shopping. I may cheat and take the car down halfway to a Valley Park car park and get the bus from there. That way I don't have to pay for car parking or queue to get into the car park then try to find a space.

Yesterday was Saturday and the expected break in the freezing weather duly arrived. So with sunshine and the temperature an 'barmy' 10 degrees we decided to go to the Farmers Market in Oundle. I like Oundle it's a nice little town. Easy to park easy to walk around. Beautiful architecture and NO global super stores.

The Farmers Market is every month on the second Saturday. It starts early at 8.30 in the morning and finishes at 1.30 in the afternoon. It's usually well attended and has a good variety of farm produced foods. Being near Christmas there were stalls selling trees wreaths, holly mistletoe and Christmas table arrangements as well as other seasonal foods. Carol singers completed the seasonal buzz.

The town centers mellow Barnack stone buildings glow in the sunshine.

The shops are small and interesting. A nice eclectic mix. Two extremely good butchers, a trade sadly lacking in Peterborough. There's a decent bakers and some good boutique clothes shops. An old fashion Ironmonger and an independent book shop keeps 'Himself' happy!

The town also has an small active theatre, converted from a defunct chapel and further down the street another chapel provides a space for a craft fare along with a comfortable relaxing space for coffee and mince pies. 'Himself' bought me some lovely glass coasters from one of the stall. We had just been admiring the artists work in the Gallery along the road!

Several coffee bars to choose from to take refreshments in or the menus in the pubs or the towns historic hotel, the Talbot, look very interesting. Today though we opted for a snack from the hog roast in the market. The smell was irresistible. The hugh pork with stuffing and apple sauce baps were worth the short queue for. Can't beat a little alfresco grazing!

This is one of the Art Galleries, something else Peterborough lacks. Its small but with some lovely pieces hanging that I would love to see on my walls!

A Frosty Birthday

The 7th of December dawned frosty white, the coldest day of the year -9 degrees Celsius when I emerged from my warm cocooned duvet. As usual in this really cold weather I have been late rising and missing out on my early morning swim. This leaves me with mixed feelings...... Guilty cos I should be up and organised to get out to get some exercise and then relieved not to be freezing while defrosting the car then fight with traffic to get to the pool. Anyway this morning I was later than usual and before I managed to get down stairs the doorbell rung. Luckily 'Himself' was way better placed to answer the door. A city florist was delivering a lovely bouquet of flowers from a friend. It was a joint birthday gift and a thank you for helping with her convalescence.

I ventured outside to feed the birds and the cold really smacked you this morning. The waterfall had ice all around it. A sparkling white hoar frost covered everywhere.

The recently cleaned pond was completely iced over and the fish still visible stationary beneath the ice. Remnants of the snow from last week still lay around.

We had planned to go out for an evening meal to celebrate my birthday but as the weather was so severe we decided that would be rather silly so wrapped up in our Canadian winter coats and hats we headed off into the countryside to have lunch at a restaurant in Ramsey.

The drive out was uneventful as the roads were clear and easily driveable not like the north of the country and Scotland where they were bogged down with snow and ice and roads were treacherous. The sun shone and caused the hoar frost over the countryside to look quite beautiful.

I discovered I had forgotten my camera so the photo is not mine but you get the picture. Endless fen landscape shimmering under a thin layer of snow and thick layer of hoar frost. The temperature never got above -2 degrees all day.

We arrived in Ramsey a small town in the Fens that I had thought was going to be interesting with lots of small shops. In fact it was a disappointment. Uninspiring buildings with many empty shops. It had no redeemable features so after a quick walk about we headed for the restaurant. It was called The Bow Window a pretty looking place from the outside, white painted walls with bow windows of course, and a thatched roof. It had been given a good review in the local press so we were looking forward to trying it out.

I'd checked it out on the web site and yes it was opened Tuesday to Saturday. The day was Tuesday so that was OK. Er... what it didn't say though was that it didn't open for lunches.

Thoroughly disillusioned with Ramsey we doubled back to the small village of Holme where we stopped at a Pub cum restaurant called The Admiral Wells. It was supposed to have a good reputation. The food was hot tasty and adequate nothing special though but we enjoyed the meal and met a very chatty lady called Grace who I discovered was once a receptionist at a village surgery where I use to go occasionally to do the Ante Natal Clinics.

Back home and watching the evening news on the TV there was a News report on Fen Skating. The cold temperatures has frozen the flooded fen fields and for the second time this year the fen skater were out on the ice. Made me feel nostalgic for my old fen skates. As a kid I use to look forward to the frozen ponds and dykes when I could don my skated and whizz round the ice in the frosty open air.