Let's pay a visit to the zoo...
This blogging journey I am on has just entered its twentieth year. In the early days, I created a blogpost about the city of Sheffield, South Yorkshire - simply to give visitors a sense of where I am blogging from. Now years have passed and the old visitors have gone. Instead, new visitors come here.
Quite possibly, you have little idea what this city is like - especially if you live in a foreign land. I could help you out by writing about Sheffield's rich industrial heritage and how it was built on steel. Just as Pittsburgh is known as America's steel city, so Sheffield is still commonly referred to as England's city of steel. It has a population of well over half a million people.
I could also wax lyrical about our wonderful surrounding countryside and write about the city's key importance in the history of modern football (American: soccer). The two oldest football teams in the world were formed here - Sheffield F.C. and Hallam F.C..
The snow fell quietly and insistently when most citizens were sound asleep. God was shaking out his eiderdown. He is a big guy so his quilt is exceptionally large - filled to bursting with little white feathers.
Both of my photos were taken this morning. At the front there's a little family with their huge dog that just did a Scooby Doo-sized poo (American: shit) on our verge. Fortunately, the mother picked up the steaming pile in a handy XXXL plastic poo bag. Good boy Goliath!
Meanwhile out back - the view is from our bedroom window. The sheep are called Beau and Peep. Beau and Peep wherefore art thou? They are my snow gauges. Upon their backs they had over six inches today which for the odious Elon Musk would appear incredible.
Now it's half past one in the afternoon and outside there is the drip-drip-drip of a slow thaw.
There will be no Sunday roast today. Instead, I am constructing a big stew in a huge glass casserole dish. The beef chunks are already bubbling in seasoned gravy and sliced onions on the hob. Later there'll be chunks of swede (American: rutabaga), sliced carrots, leeks, lentils and homemade dumplings. There will also be freshly baked baguettes - using a supermarket part-baked pack.
It will be delicious and wholesome - just the thing for a snowy day. Over the Christmas period we have tucked into no less than five roasts and so this will be a bit different.
Shirley has already baked a Bakewell tart using a traditional recipe she acquired from the late mother of one of her best friends. She was called Evelyn and via that mouth-watering traditional pie she has hereby gained a degree of immortality. It will be enjoyed with vanilla custard.
Little Phoebe went out sledging with her father earlier. I saw the amateur phone video footage. She was having so much fun and laughing all the way. Sheffield has many hills and so it's a great place for sledging. They were in nearby Bingham Park.
At two in the afternoon, your intrepid correspondent had only been out to feed the birds and to put a few items in our recycling bins.
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1. An African country had its name changed to Eswatini in 2018 but what was it previously called?
I am afraid I cannot explain how I got home so quickly from Tristan da Cunha. Sleep embraced me and when I woke up I was back here in South Yorkshire. Miraculous.
Just round the corner from us there's a street called Gisborne Road. The houses on that street are typically suburban - mostly neat semi-detached properties with gardens. Residents care for their homes and maintain them responsibly. They wash their cars and trim their hedges. Tradesmen's vans parked outside evidence electrical work, plumbing and painting and decorating.
However, there's one house on the street that speaks of neglect and disorder. Rumours have surrounded it for years and there have been late night shenanigans and police visits. Windows have been smashed and occasionally music has blasted out from the place at high volume. I am very glad that we don't live next door.
