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.
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