6 January 2021

Icy


Yesterday afternoon - a walk on the moors to the south west of Sheffield. Though our suburban neighbourhood was green, up on the moors the climate was truly wintry with many paths covered with ice and snow blown by a biting Arctic wind. I had to watch my step on those paths for fear of breaking through the ice and plunging into muddy puddles. It's so unpleasant to plod across a frozen landscape in wet boots .


Last night I finished watching "A Teacher" on BBC 2. It's an American drama series with ten half hour episodes. It focusses on an illicit affair between a thirty year old high school English teacher and one of her senior year students. I enjoyed it and it filled five hours of  screen time very happily. There was no killing and no detectives - elements that are very hard to avoid in most TV drama these days.

38 comments:

  1. This could be called South-West of Winter.
    Too late now for Master JS Bach's Christmas Oratoria.
    How about Debussy's The Snow is Dancing, Schubert's Winterreise, Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker, Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel, Rimsky-Korsakov's Snow Maiden, Rachmaninov's The Bells, and Vaughan Williams' The Bells?

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    1. What about Madonna's "Frozen"?

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    2. Sorry John. I think you left two comments. The second one has mysteriously disappeared in the moderation process.

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    3. I meant to write: Two Winter Songs by Vaughan Williams.
      Madonna's Frozen I must revisit.
      Angelina Jordan's The Autumn Leaves (YouTube) is a once-in-a-generation recording, as good as Nat King Cole's. She is only a youngster!
      The lyric has that haunting line, *And soon I'll hear old winter's song.*

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  2. I have always meant to look up the actual definition of a 'moor'. Now I know: an open tract of unfertile land, a peaty (I never knew that was a word) wasteland. Despite that inelegant definition, it's really quite beautiful in a very wild way.

    Something new every day.

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    1. I wonder if there are areas of Pennsylvania that could be called moors or moorland?

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    2. quite a bit of vast wasteland here... I jest. We have open fields, but they are not infertile. They are farm fields, generally, and in those wide expanses, the wind carries snow in great drifts which block the road. We don't have peat, but we do have areas of very organic soil. They are generally heavily wooded areas. Your moors sound as if they were at one time swampy areas. We have swamps. We even removed some beavers and dried up some of them I guess that would be the closest thing. It is infertile with scrub brush, but provides a safe place for deer to hide.

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    3. Most English moors are on higher ground Debby.

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  3. Stunning photos of the moors.

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    1. "Cathy! Cathy! Wheer art tha lass?" called Heathcliff.

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  4. You did well going for that winter walk. I am sure the air, although cold, is good for body and soul, as long as we are dressed sensibly and keeping warm. The light is beeautiful and it looks like you were pretty much the only person around.
    It is snowing here as we speak, and as it is a day off for me (yay!) - Epiphany or "Three Kings" - I shall go for a walk in the snow later, too.

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    1. Don't get lost out there! The emergency services have other things to do these days.

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  5. Wintry landscapes! I really like that last picture of the tree. I read about that "teacher" show but we haven't watched it yet.

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    1. I am not saying it is world-beating but I enjoyed it. It would be interesting to hear how you and Dave respond to it. The full series is on BBC i-player.

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  6. That last photo is an absolute winner. I thought you had gone all religious when I saw the first one!
    My OH is desperate for some snow...we saw about 3 flakes yesterday. I have no desire for slippery footpaths nor do I wish to " do a weaver" ( sorry Pat, hope you are still getting better every day)

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    1. "It Never Snows in Harpenden" could be the title of a novel... a thriller by Frances Weaver.

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  7. Your wintry landscape looks very much like parts of Lewis. Some of the paths here have been sheet ice this last few days which is unusual.

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    1. Take care Graham. We don't want you falling down.

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  8. In the bleak midwinter. The top picture could be called Calvary in the snow. Hats off to you for going for a ramble in such wintry conditions.

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    1. And I got back alive! No frozen Yorkshire Puddings on the moors!

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  9. Anonymous10:31 am

    I get what you are saying about no detectives and no killing.

    I really like the starkness of the last photo.

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    1. In real life how many murders do we see? How many detectives do we meet? Such things are not part of everyday life.

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  10. Do you have warm lined trousers for your wuthering walks on the windy windy moors?

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    1. I do have some but yesterday as the temperature was only around zero centigrade I wore my shorts and Hull City T-shirt.

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    2. You need a selfie stick to prove it.

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    3. Is a selfie stick for self-flagellation?

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  11. Lovely pictures (as always). Just looking at them made me shiver.

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  12. A Newcastle United fan would have worn no shirt.😊

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    1. My belly isn't big enough for a Newcastle United fan.

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    2. He's not wrong. I've driven through there at two in the morning.

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  13. You were brave, venturing out alone on that icy landscape. My friends went for their usual Sunday walk (I wimped out because of the weather) and one of them slipped on the ice, fell and fractured a bone in her wrist. I shudder to think of what could have befallen you out there on the moor by yourself. Take more care Grumps.

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    1. I could have crawled back to Clint. He was never more than two miles away.

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  14. You're a hardy man, Mr. P.!
    Cold but beautiful. Glad you didn't fall through any ice.

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  15. I know that today is Frances' due date. How is she feeling? Is everyone getting excited?

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    1. That is kind of you to ask Jennifer. It is indeed her "due date" but no sign of the grandbaby yet. Frances is in good health and eating like a horse! Watch this space!

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  16. Superb photos YP - you've really captured the bleakness of the moors in all their winter glory. I'm quite happy to view the scenery from a warmer clime!

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