Winter

Higger Tor seen from Totley Moor

I know that one should not tempt fate and one certainly should not count one's chickens before they are hatched but I am going to come out and say it anyway - Where has our English winter gone? 

The past few weeks have been unusually mild. There has been hardly any overnight frost, no snow on the ground and as the days begin to lengthen we see spring bulbs pushing through the earth. We are eight days into February and one cannot help wondering - Will proper winter ever appear?

Tomorrow we are scheduled to feel the full blast of an Atlantic storm that the Irish have already named Storm Ciara. Damage is likely and roof slates will rattle as trees are shaken as if by invisible giants. But big storms are not necessarily the preserve of winter and even during this storm temperatures will remain moderate and "unwinterly" - a meteorological term that I have just invented. 

Of course harsh winter weather can strike as late as April and March can certainly be a crazy month for weather but as time goes on I have the feeling that this will essentially be what I call a "green winter" as opposed to a "white winter". Another saying has suddenly echoed inside my skull - Don't speak too soon!

Thursday was a beautiful, diamond day. I had to get outside. Not too far away. Just up onto Totley Moor and Totley Moss. A big circular walk was in order, passing the air shaft that descends to the Victorian railway tunnel below. I noticed that some maintenance work is in progress there though the team were nowhere to be seen.

I have often been tempted to spray words on that remote structure. Perhaps "The Big Black Button" or "Entrance to Brexitland" but I don't suppose I will ever do it. I admit that I am prone to such flights of fancy. The pictures accompanying this blogpost were taken on Thursday when winter seemed so far away.