Now that's a hell of a picture! The location is Porthcawl near Bridgend in southern Wales. The photograph was taken yesterday afternoon and has been used on the BBC News website to illustrate the ongoing stormy weather in the south west of the country. Meanwhile here in Sheffield, it is still calm. I visited the supermarket earlier wearing a T-shirt (err...trousers and shoes too) and the sun is out.
An hour ago I went up the garden to dismantle our Christmas garden display. Always a sad thing to do. Controlled by a timer, our dark Yuletime nights were prettily lit by a glowing Father Christmas with a string of flashing red lights above him. All observed by a be-tinselled Beau and Peep - our obedient pet sheep. Now it's clear that Christmas 2013 is really over and we are well into 2014. I must make some travel plans - The Isle of Man, Montenegro, Seattle and Vancouver perhaps...
Michael Schumacher is still in a coma after his awful skiing accident and now Mrs A. Merkel - the German Chancellor has fractured her pelvis while skiing. It has always seemed a silly activity to me. I wonder if it is possible to sponsor an Alpine skiing trip for our own chancellor , the odious Gideon "George" Osborne with a coachload of other irksome "celebrities" - including TV and radio "personality" Chris Evans, the entire England cricket team, Jordan (aka Katie Price), Leonardo di Caprio, Stephen Fry and Bashar al-Assad. After all, the season of goodwill is now officially over.
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| The west garden of Pudding Towers on Christmas Day |
My goodness. That is a terrible storm. Seems to me that those people standing on that precipice in that fury might want to try a ski trip also! Do you think there would be room on that Alpine ski trip for all the members of our Congress? No, I suppose not.
ReplyDeleteI also am putting away Christmas, so to speak, today. 11 more months to go till I get all the things out of the closet again for next Christmas. Wonder about the things that will effect our lives in the meantime, don't you Mr. Pudding?
Yes I do wonder Ms Thyme. It's like a novel unfolding - I just hope that there are no tragic episodes for the two of us. As for Congress's skiing trip - how about sticking them all in barrels to enjoy a mass trip over the Niagara Falls instead?
DeleteEven better, Mr. Pudding!!!! And it will put some of our jobless to work making barrels!
DeleteKatie Kambridge, all the Royals with the exception of Princess Anne and Zara. Nick Clegg, Dithery Dave, Michael Gove and Jeremy Hunt, Tristian Hunt. Boris could go as shepherd and everything is bound to go satisfactorily.
ReplyDeleteI suspect the Poles are glad that Angela has had to call off her visit to Poland.
There are a few bloggers I'd like to see on that fateful ski trip too but not you Adrian - you are a brick (whatever that might mean). I'd also encourage Jonathan Ross, Simon Cowell and Claudia Winkelman to try their hand at skiiing - preferably well off piste!
DeleteOh you two cranky old buggars leave Katie Kambridge, Wills and Harry alone. The rest you can send off on your skiing trip.
DeleteOkay that's it Madam Helen. Get yourself a snowsuit!
DeleteI've never understood people who engage in slippery business. Skis, snowboards, roller skates, ice skates. None of that makes sense to me. There's a poultry show in Monroe, Washington on March 15. It would be fun to see you there.
ReplyDeleteThe Seattle/Vancouver idea is embryonic. It would be cool to meet you Jan but I think that if we do come over it's more likely to be early summer.
DeleteIs there room on this trip for Whitehall mandarins and lobbyists as well? Can't say I disagree with any of the suggestions so far but I am surprised investment bankers weren't on the original list. Personally, I would like to keep Boris as no one ever knows what he is going to do next but he is largely harmless and hugely entertaining as a result.
ReplyDeleteSkiing accidents would be too good for investment bankers. They'll be chased by hungry carnivores across the plains of Africa instead.
DeleteYes! Brilliant idea! We strip them naked and let them loose on a fenced reserve and then paying trophy hunters can come and shoot them down instead of animals!
DeleteI may be going to Seattle this year YP......what a hoot if we were there at the same time!
ReplyDeleteI'd love to mud wrestle you in a Seattle bar Libby... sorry. I meant arm wrestle!
DeleteWatch out for crowds of tourists, Vancouver is a lovely place to visit and many do. Are you going to do the whole Rockies experience... Jasper, Lake Louise etc? I thoroughly recommend it .
ReplyDeleteIf we do go, we will not be rushing about too much - just loitering and absorbing. I'd like to spend time on Vancouver Island and stay in Olympia for a while. Which month did you go in Helen? I know the weather can be dodgy up there.
DeleteWe went in late September - still officially summer and 26 degrees in Vancouver - lovely. Then we went on one of the last cruises to Alaska at the beginning of October when the Alaskan towns were on the verge of closing down for Winter - cold and brilliant and the first snows were on the Rockies. Drove a hire car to Jasper and beyound. A wonderful country with spectacular scenery and whose inhabitants are the nicest we have found anywhere.Vancouver Island was great too though we were there for a very short time.
DeleteGreat solution to a political problem. Can I though in a few Canadian losers too?
ReplyDeleteSure thing Red - as long as you don't throw in Leonard Cohen, Neil Young or Joni Mitchell.
DeleteI have just caught sight of affable despot jason and he shouted through his open window and against the wind
ReplyDelete" see you in may"
Looking at Mrs. Merkel's shape, one wonders that she felt up to any kind of sport at all, let alone skiing (not alpine, by the way).
ReplyDeleteOK, that's me being shallow and mean again, reducing everyone to their looks. Sorry. She just provokes that in me.